Things that you can do to get the most out of counseling:
1. Be picky about who you work with and make sure that they’re a good fit. Find someone who you see yourself talking with and who specializes in what you need support with. Check out how to find the right counselor here.
2. Supplement therapy by doing things outside of session. This can be reading credible mental health sources, journaling, doing a workbook and other mental health-related homework assignments throughout the week.
3. Do the homework assignments, even if they seem pointless because they are small. Simple assignments or therapeutic strategies can be effective. Trust that your counselor is giving you assignments and strategies that could be helpful.
4. Allow yourself to feel emotions and express yourself. Counseling is the time and space to let it go. Get it out. Free yourself. So much progress can be made when you do this and it will carry to outside of session. We can heal by letting out emotions, experiencing them, changing our relationship to them, and then learn how to manage them. Beachball metaphor for coping with emotional dysregulation is a good example of what we experience when we hold in emotions.
5. Tell your counselor when their advice isn’t helpful or good. Sometimes the counselor is “off” or “wrong”. We sometimes need guidance to better understand what’s going on and how we can help. Please, let your counselor know, for both of your benefit. Here are things to know about professional counselors.
More about counseling
Open Path Psychotherapy Collective – Affordable Mental Health Services
How Do I Find Affordable Counseling?
Depression – When and Where to Reach Out
How to Find the Right Counselor
Session Framework: What our sessions might look like
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