Welcome Note

Hi!

I’m Precious, and if you’re reading this then it means you’re probably thinking of entering into counselling.

This might be your first time considering therapy, or possibly you’ve got someone in your life that’s been suggesting this to you for a while now. Nevertheless, entering into therapy is something that will greatly assist.

Here are a few pointers on what to expect.

• Therapy starts with the therapist asking you many questions.

  When you first come to counselling the healthcare professional will conduct whats called a clinical interview. It sounds serious, but this is basically just their way of making sure they get all the details of your history and the problem that brought you in.

  Through this targeted questioning the therapist drills down to get a thorough understanding of the problem.

• You’ll have to work jointly with the therapist to analyze yourself.

  Therapy involves you looking at yourself objectively.

  Successful counselling strengthens your ability to reflect on your own thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Speaking with a degree of objectivity about yourself allows you to consider your behavior more analytically. Your therapist will try guide this process of gaining insight through the questions they ask and by bringing your attention to other dynamics not previously considered.

• You may not always feel good after sitting on the couch.

  Despite the fact that everybody enters therapy to “feel better” in some way, the process may get worse before it improves. This is because you are finally delving into the issues that you have always avoided, or that it has always been too unsafe to explore up till now.

  Becoming aware of the relational patterns that you have in your life will make you feel uncomfortable, but ITS WORTH IT.

• You have to implement change if you want the process to work.

  Sitting down to explore the patterns, assumptions, and experiences that have shaped you is extremely helpful. Just being aware of these aspects can already result in a shift! But, if you want to see BIG changes you’ll need to implement what you learn into your everyday life.

  The actual implementation is often the hardest part. Trust me I know! Its not easy to set boundaries with a demanding friend, or to expose your vulnerable side when you’ve always been the one people depend on, but carrying out this change is the heart of what therapy is about.

  Since this will be unfamiliar territory for you, your therapist will be there to provide you with all the emotional support necessary.

• Every person can benefit from therapy

  Lastly, since therapy is about helping you understand yourself better, there’s value in it for everyone!

  Life can really stretch you sometimes, and you can start to feel like you’re just not able to keep up (especially if its been one compounding issue after another). Going into therapy will not magically make all of these challenges disappear, however it can reduce the impact of these pressures on your overall well-being.

Hopefully, this helped clarify for you what counselling is all about and perhaps the next time you feel overwhelmed you’ll consider speaking to someone that’s trained to assist.