Why Therapy? (3 min Read)
Why therapy?
This is a great question and one that I have often been asked by people in my life.
There are an infinite number of reasons why one may seek out therapy such as #anxiety #depression #stress #distress #mentalhealth or just as a way to check-in with someone objective.
The truth is that engaging in #counselling (or #counseling for our US based friends) can be a way to change how you are experiencing your life and allow you to #reframe your outlook to one that is #healthier and allow you to release the stress you are carrying.
#mentalwellness is a continuum and we can ebb and flow between healthier and less healthy states of mind throughout our lives.
What counselling can provide is a safe, nonjudgemental space for an individual to explore themselves and have a trained professional provide insight, feedback, and respectful challenging in the form of thoughtful and provocative insight from the outside.
In doing so, a therapist holds a mirror up to your life in a way that allows you to see things in a new way and shift your outlook to one that will guide you in desirable directions agreed upon by the two parties.
I will often ask my clients if I may ‘respectfully challenge) something that they have said that may appear incongruous with another statement or beliefs that they have shared. This is not about being right or smarter than the other person, but rather to shine light on a different perspective. It is easy for us to create a tunnel vision with our views and only see them from one angle.
Imagine holding your phone up with the screen facing you and the back facing another person. Ask the other to describe what they see. They will describe the back side of your phone. However, when you attempt to describe what you see, your perspective will be completely different in many ways even though you are both looking at the same object. It can be that easy for us to ‘get stuck’ on seeing something from only one viewpoint and allow conflict to creep into our lives and relationships.
Part of my role as a therapist is to bring awareness to these other perspectives to challenge those deeply held truths and believes that continue to cause pain, discomfort, or even suffering; facilitating release and relief. Everyone’s experience is different, but this is one of the major components of the work.
Therapy is a journey and one that can be valuable and life changing. It can look several different ways and truly depends on you and your goals. If you have any questions about therapy, I would be more than happy to answer them as best as I can!
I offer every client a free, and no obligation, 20 minute phone consult to explore the idea of therapy, ask me anything they wish to know about myself or therapy in general, and for myself to get a better sense of what they would like different in their own lives. If you have ever considered speaking with someone, this can be a great first step! Feel free to contact me.
Caveat - I am unable to provide therapeutic advice in this medium and if you are in distress then I encourage you to contact emergency services directly.