What is the benefit of counseling?
The specific benefits of counseling really depend on your goals. In general, though, most people find these aspects of counseling helpful:
1. Confidential. The discussion that happens between you and a counselor is private. We are held to ethical standards to keep the information you share with us confidential. This is important so that you know you can share what you are feeling.
2. Focused. Scheduling time to focus and discuss life events or struggles that you are working through is beneficial. You know you will have set time to focus… focus on you and your goals. You can also let yourself focus on other things during the day because you know you have specific time reserved for the issue at hand. We often get caught up in day-to-day life and do not resolve things that need to be. We let other things get in the way of working on what is really holding us back.
3. Objective. Even those with a strong support system need to share things with a “third party”. Working with a counselor gives you the opportunity to confide with a non-judgmental third party.
4. Informative. There are specific credentials that we have as counselors. The years of education that we have participated in work to prepare us to support clients from various backgrounds with various concerns. After our education is complete, we are required to complete 4,000 hours of clinical work. Being a licensed Master Degree Clinical Social Worker, we are also expected to continue our education. By doing this continued education we are able to learn of changes, advances, and resources within the field of mental health and wellness. We do these things to be able to share our learning’s with you. That being said the tools that we share with you are no secret. Unfortunately there is no secret potion that only your therapist knows about. What your therapist can do is help condense the information that is available and drive the conversation.