COUNSELING
What to Expect From Counseling
Counseling provides a confidential, supportive environment where individuals can explore personal challenges, develop healthier coping strategies, improve relationships, and work toward meaningful changes in their lives.
Counseling approaches vary depending on the individual's needs and goals. Some focus on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, while others emphasize emotional awareness, relationships, personal growth, or understanding past experiences.
Finding a counselor who is a good fit for your needs is an important part of the process. It is appropriate to ask questions about a counselor's experience, treatment approach, professional qualifications, and fees before beginning services.
SO MANY AMAZING TOOLS - BELOW ARE
JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITES
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
This is the current state of the art. All modern mental health research can be summed in one sentence: Your thoughts come first.
Our thoughts drive us into our feelings.
Then, to deal with our feelings, we have behaviors.
So the loop is Thoughts → Feelings → Behaviors
Generally speaking the spots for intervention is at the levels of Thoughts and Behaviors.
As much as humanly possible we try not to judge our emotions. Emotion is feedback, it is information, it is currency to spend on behavior.
We do want to be very critical of our Thoughts and Behaviors.
With emotion, we stop, breathe, feel it, turn towards it and acknowledge it, know that it will pass. This is called “hugging the cactus.” Turn towards the emotions and embrace them, even if it hurts.
As difficult and painful as hugging the cactus can be often the most difficult part of CBT treatment is dealing with our thoughts.
Thoughts are where all this stuff starts. Most interventions at this level involve Identifying Negative Thoughts we have about ourselves.
Then counter-acting them.
These thoughts are going to be familiar to you. Something you already believe, something that is inside your defenses. These thoughts are things that you carry with you throughout the day. You slip into them like your favorite pair of jeans. They are also called Automatic Negative Thoughts. These thoughts have a nugget of truth to them, or else they would not have the power over us that they do. But it is only a nugget of truth, the rest is blown out of proportion.
There is much much more to be said about this. But to begin, start with taking a moment to pause, take some deep breaths and turn towards the pain, embrace it, and remind yourself how beautiful graceful nice and wonderful you are. It is very important to do that. Remember how much you love. Let the tears come, this is only a moment, let it be a beautiful and emotional one.
I’d love to talk some more about this with you. If you feel the same way drop me line :)
