Talk to a Counselor

Many people try to argue that professional counseling is just not for them. They do not see what is useful about sharing their inner lives with a stranger, nor do they think that there is any benefit to the practice of counseling. These opinions could not be more incorrect. Mental health is just as important as physical health. The more we study mental health, the more we come to acknowledge that mental health is something that requires awareness, education, nurturing and good health practices, just like physical health. This means that everyone can benefit from counseling because no one has perfect mental health.

One thing that professional counseling offers that is valuable to everyone is perspective. Perspective is something that people can only benefit from and never be harmed by. A professional counselor is very objective about their client’s lives. They do not carry any of the same biases, attachments, denials or falsities that their clients carry. They can receive all the information the client provides objectively and unearth additional information to form a clear picture in their minds.

Another thing that a person will inevitably gain from professional counseling is awareness. Talking to someone about your life who is interested and concerned but who is also removed and objective will always offer awareness. This is a much wiser option than talking to someone who has a bias, such as a parent, sibling or best friend. These people are likely to favor your perspective and your excuses much more than a professional counselor. Similarly, if you talk to someone who has a lower opinion of you about your problems, they are likely to judge you too harshly. There is no less biased opinion than someone who is being paid to care but to stay removed.

And lastly, the main reason we all go to a counselor is to receive guidance about what to do next. Counselors assist their clients cautiously in decision making. A person needs to arrive at their own conclusions about what they think should happen in order for their decision making to be effective. Therefore, a counselor will not tell a person how to think or decide what to do, but they will guide them in the direction that is likely to be healthiest for them.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what it is that counselors do. Many people still have the mental image of having to lie on a couch while a man in a tweed suit asks them to talk about their father. This is hardly the case. A professional counselor’s purpose is to provide a safe outlet for a person to communicate their troubles to, and to provide a professional, objective opinion on how to move forward. When taken seriously and utilized correctly, they can mean the difference between mental health success and failure. Professional counselors may work in a private practice, a hospital or a residential rehab center. When a person receives professional counseling, they are expected to do so with an open mind and a willingness to be receptive to the guidance they are going to receive. The duties of a professional counselor are to:

• Listen. Professional counselors are also professional listeners. They take the task of understanding their clients very seriously, and their method of understanding is by listening to what their clients have to say and interpreting their communication.
• Guide. Counselors are trained to guide the communication that takes place between themselves and their clients to maximize its usefulness. Their training also allows them to map the individual out to understand their psychological profile, which aids them in offering the individual life guidance.
• Assess. After hearing what the client has to say, the counselor will offer them an assessment of the situation. They will validate the person where their feelings are healthy and normal, as well as point out where their thinking is destructive. They will help the client understand the truth of their own situation much better.
• Advise. Giving advice as a counselor is tricky business. Anytime a counselor offers real advice about how a person can change their life, they have to feel very certain that no harm will come to their client if they follow their advice. That is why counselors will more frequently guide their client to arriving at their own conclusions and save the concrete advice for when it is absolutely necessary.