People trust their hairdresser to cut their hair, and their mechanic to fix their car, Bergen points out. Why wouldn’t they trust a counsellor with the things that are troubling them?
“It’s okay to seek help and to seek resources from somebody who knows something about an area that you don’t,” says Bergen, who has been a counsellor for 14 years and has owned her own private practice, Bergen and Associates Counselling, for the past 12.
“I consider the client the expert of their story, and I consider myself somewhat of an expert of the process. So, the client and I can work together to look at something that they can’t do on their own.”
from the article:
Depression in the Darkest Months
I had a great conversation chatting with Aaron Epp, a journalist with Christian week the other day, about the difficulties of January/February, and the challenge generally that folks have in seeing a counsellor.
My experience is that many are surprised by how much they enjoy the counselling experience…I’m not sure that it’s “fun”…but it feels good, sorta like getting a massage that might have painful moments, but in the end, you know you feel better.
Clients tell me that it was more like a normal conversation than they thought it would be, and that they left with a fresh way to think of things…which is often particularly surprising as the issue has been likely swirling around in the brain this way and that for months.
It takes courage to go to a counsellor…to do so means to expose one’s vulnerabilities with another…often in a way that one has been avoiding for a long time…which actually can perpetuate the problem.
I honor and admire folk who choose to invest in themselves and their relationships by working at “stuff” deliberately with a trained professional.
Write a Comment