This year, I decided to go back to counseling, meaning yes, I have tried it once prior. My current experience with counseling is significantly different from the one I had previously and has changed my perspective on the benefits of counseling dramatically.
There are common misconceptions about counseling, like patients need to be “broken” to go or that someone who has not gone through the same experiences cannot understand what someone seeking help is going through. The idea of seeking help has been stereotyped as something negative and stigmatized as a last resort to handle emotional awareness and regulation. However, these ideas are false.
One benefit of counseling is being provided with different perspectives. Now let’s get one thing straight: this doesn’t make certain points of views right and others wrong. A counselor’s job is not to tell you what you want to hear, but instead what you need to hear. Their unbiased training and experience are meant to advise you to keep an open mind about all situations and remember that there is more to one side of sense-making in every story.
Another benefit to counseling is that it has the potential to better one’s emotional expression. Counselors are not only trained to give advice, but to help patients actively set goals and practice ways to achieve those goals. Many of these goals can be related to managing emotions like anger, attachment issues, stress, etc. Some counselors even go above and beyond and have print-out handouts and homework ready to go for their patients to work on until their next visit.
A third benefit to counseling is that a patient can leave feeling a greater sense of self and purpose. Patients may begin their mental health journey unsure of who they are or what direction they want to take their life in, but counseling allows them the opportunity to look at options for their next steps towards their future.
Everyone can benefit from counseling, regardless of their mental state. Counseling is meant to guide you, not tell you what to do and in the end, it is up to us to decide whether or not to run with the advice we’re given.