Starting to see a licensed therapist, through video counseling or in-person, as you face a new change in your life can be one of the best decisions you can make. Our society is starting to understand that mental health is similar to physical health. Both must be attended to for preventative and best-health outcomes. Therapy can help a client decrease the chance that they will struggle with depression, nip anxiety in the bud and build up a resilient set of coping tools.
Whether this is your first time in therapy, or you are deciding to return to “the talking cure” as Sigmund Freud famously coined it, this is an incredibly important life transition. It is quite usual to feel nervous before your first session. It can be helpful to come to session with a few ideas or questions jotted down for your therapist. You might want to express what you’d like to get out of counseling. Maybe you just need space to share what you are feeling or what your thoughts are about your life.
Benefits of talk therapy include having a (mostly!) unbiased professional to relate your thoughts, emotions and behaviors to. Unlike friends or family, your therapist won’t be influenced by gossip or previous experiences with you. Your therapist should start with the groundwork of unconditional, positive regard for you and not be biased by overwhelming personal feelings. A counselor is a highly trained, educated and (mostly!) unbiased source of support, guidance and feedback. This should be a person you “click” with, within a few sessions. If it helps, think of your first session or two as a chance for you to interview the counselor as well. Trust your gut about whether you will be able to really open up with this person.
The best therapists don’t provide simplistic advice. In fact, the best ones don’t provide direct advice at all! Instead, they aim to ask open-ended questions to help you explore your own reality and to arrive at solutions that exist within your own psyche. Depending on your counselor’s theoretical orientation, they will use a variety of evidence-based techniques to increase your self-awareness. Some practitioners use CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) to help explore how a client’s specific thought processes might be influencing their emotions. Others, who gravitate towards the trauma-informed school of thought, might help clients explore how adverse situations in youth are still affecting their day-to-day living. Many others, myself included, use a combination of eclectic strategies to help clients dig deeper into their feelings. We do this to come up with answers for both everyday problems and for existential questions.
Some of the sessions I hold with my clients are for venting, others are for problem solving. I continue to learn immensely from the narratives I have the privilege of hearing. I am continuously humbled by this profession. Welcome to counseling!
