This question is one I have pondered a lot in my 8+ years in the counseling field. I’m not the first to consider the answer to this deep question. There are many excellent reasons why counseling is effective in helping people move forward in their lives. In this blog post, I’m going to look into one big reason why going to therapy can make a huge difference in someone’s life.
Taking the step of seeing a counselor takes tremendous courage. Once they’re in the door and sitting on my couch, though, I know I have the honor of (hopefully) making a significant impact on that person’s life. I know this is true because the client is talking to someone who is completely not connected to his life. I am not part of his family. I’m not his friend. I don’t go to his church, work at his school, play on his team, nor am I his co-worker. The client knows that I have no emotions connected to us working together. I am unbiased. I am in his life only to help him with whatever is going on. These truths explain one big reason why a client is more likely to open up to me fully, and therefore progress in the goals of his therapy.
Going into the first therapy appointment, clients obviously are aware that I’m an unknown in their lives. They know ahead of time that they have no relationship with me. However, clients (especially younger clients) don’t always realize how much this aids the counseling relationship. I have noticed that clients are often pleasantly surprised with how much they’re willing to tell me…even when they told themselves beforehand that they wouldn’t tell me “that.” And talking about “that” – and processing “that” – is usually exactly what the client needs to do.
All this is, of course, a huge privilege for me. I hope that these words encourage someone out there to consider counseling in their own life…or maybe you can share this information with someone else in your life that might consider therapy.
