We all go through difficult times in our lives. These difficulties could be related to aspect of our personal lives such as relationship, education, health, friendship, etc. or related to our professional work lives. You may be feeling blue or down lately. You may be having issues with your co-workers or supervisors. You may be experiencing indecisiveness regarding an important issue in your life. You may be experiencing relationship difficulties with your spouse and/or children.

Every person deals with their life problems in their own unique ways. Many people decide to face their life issues head and deal with them on their own. Others may decide to reach out and seek help from others. Counselling and counsellors are there to help people who are facing emotional difficulties, challenges in their daily lives and mental health issues. You do not have to go through your concerns all alone.

Before we continue explaining the benefits of counselling, let’s talk about the myths and misconceptions around counselling services because we all have that one friend who was crazy enough to seek counselling.

Some common misconceptions about counselling

Something must be seriously wrong with me if I need help: just like physical illnesses, it is normal to seek help for mental health concerns, addictions, and other psychosocial stressors.

• It is my problem and no one else understands it as well as I do: twenty five percent of adults experience one form of mental health illness in their lifetime. Counsellors are trained to listen and to do their best to help you. You deserve to be healthier and happier.
• If I seek help, they will put me on medication and I will be addicted: only some of mental health disorders need medication, short-term or long-term, and it will be prescribed and monitored by a psychiatrist and not counsellors. Most of mental health concerns can be treated with talk therapy and changes in thought processes and lifestyles.
• I don’t need counselling and I just need to try harder and harder: just life other forms of illness, mental health/substance abuse disorders cannot be treated by ignoring or simply by trying harder. They deserve proper treatment by a professional just like any other illnesses.
• Well, counselling is just talking. I can talk to my family and friends and can get help: It is very important to have a strong support network of family and friends but there are things that counsellors can help you better than your family and friends. Counsellors are professionally trained and specialized in helping you see yourself and your life in a different way and find out ways that you can overcome life challenges.
• People should seek counselling only when faced with serious mental health concern: No, it is better to seek help before we face a serious problem. You can’t only seek help when you have a heart attack, but you seek help with other minor problems such as allergies, the flu, etc. Similarly, you can seek counselling if you face any kind of difficulty in the hope of preventing more serious issues.

What is counselling?

Counselling is a confidential professional relationship between you and the counsellor which is focused on emotional and personal problems, life challenges and any mental health concerns. Counselling is like an educational opportunity in which a person learns more about themselves and obtain life skills. Counsellors are professionals who have been trained in the field of human behavior and they are very skilled listeners. Counselling process aims at helping clients have a cleared understanding of their issues, connect better with their feelings and thoughts, and manage their problems more effectively. Counselling relationship is bound by confidentiality, is free of judgment, is respectful regardless of what you share in the session and is focused on help you as a client.

Below is an example of difficulties and issues that can be addressed in counselling:

• Anxieties related to work, education, and personal life
• Conflicts with co-workers, supervisors, and friends
• Relationship problems
• Career and professional life challenges
• Bad habits management such as eating issues, smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc.
• Self-esteem issues
• Depression, fatigue, anger or resentment
• Grief and loss
• Loneliness, social isolation, and hopelessness
• Sleep disorders
• Procrastination

How counselling helps?

Talking to someone you trust, including a counsellor, can have many benefits. Below are some of them:

Developing Healthy ways of coping and getting rid of bad habits: when keeping a problem to yourself and leaving them unresolved could potentially affect your life and everyone around you in a negative toxic way. Through counselling, you will be supported in exploring the challenges in your life without burning yourself out. You learn to rely on your own personal strengths, gain new skills, and new positive, constructive ways of dealing with your daily stressors to ensure your success and prevent failure. This will lead to an opportunity in which you purge the self-destructive habits that you may have.

Achieving your goals: during counselling, your counsellor will support you to identify challenges, prioritize and set appropriate goals that could be beneficial to your personal and professional life. Then, your counsellor will stay besides you throughout your journey of reaching your goals and fulfilling your dreams. This will improve your self-confidence and the sense of accomplishment. As a takeaway from the counselling process, you will learn to set appropriate goals and developing plans to achieve those goals.

Improve your relationships: During counselling your counsellor may bring up the relationships that you have with people around. Healthy relationships help you become a better version of you and unhealthy relationships will bring you down. The pre-requisites of a health relationship are the relationship with yourself. Throughout counselling, you will wok on self-care, treating yourself with respect and understanding your own fears and doubts so you can push yourself above them to reach your goals. It takes some time to improve your relationships, but your counsellor will be there every step of the way to support you through this process.

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