Why do people come for counselling?
Process emotional pain:
Many people seek counselling because something has happened to them or to someone close to them which they find challenging and stressful and difficult to process. For example this may be a one off event, or an accumulation of events, or a situation which has been happening for some time. They try their best to manage but their coping strategies are not helping anymore and are now contributing to their problem. They don’t have anyone in their personal network they can talk to, not to the extent that they really need. They can no longer bottle things up because the problem has got so bad that it’s causing more pain than we can cope with. Many of us try to bare the pain for too long on our own and sometimes things have to get very bad before we will make a decision to see a counsellor.
Mental health maintenance:
For some people who are very health aware, they choose to have regular weekly/ fortnightly counselling because they recognise that talking to a Counsellor helps them to keep their mental health in good shape. Much like regularly going to the gym or seeing a chiropractor or having a message is a regular appointment in their diary for keeping their physical health in good shape.
Self awareness, identity exploration, and self development:
Other people come for counselling because their personal circumstances have changed, and they want to know themselves better. They want to work out why they think how they think, or do what they do. They may want to change something about themself which is holding them back from being the person they were meant to be.