WHY COUNSELING?

“ T H I S I S N O T H O W I T H O U G H T I T W O U L D B E ”

IF YOU’VE EVER SAID THIS ABOUT YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT ALONE.

IN OUR COUNSELING PRACTICE, WE WORK WITH YOU IN A COLLABORATIVE, INDIVIDUALIZED,

AND SOLUTION-FOCUSED WAY, HELPING TO ADDRESS CURRENT LIFE STRESSORS AND LONG-STANDING CHALLENGES.

C O L L A B O R A T I O N I S A T T H E H E A R T O F C O U N S E L I N G

Effective counseling begins with listening, and progresses to collaboration. It is important that you feel heard, and understood. The goal is for us to help you develop tools to better cope with life stressors, work through difficult emotions, overcome adversity, and strengthen relationships and quality of life.

 

T H E P R O C E S S O F I D E N T I F Y I N G S T R E S S O R S

Stress is the body’s reaction to any stimulus or change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these stimuli or changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. As a result, you can experience stress from your environment, from your body, and from your thoughts.

The body’s autonomic nervous system has a built-in stress response called the fight, flight, freeze, submit mechanism, which results in physiological changes within the brain and then the body which prepares the physical body to respond in a way to preserve its life. Across long periods of stress, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional, this response can become chronically activated, causing actual physical wear and tear and eventually damage to the body.

Both chronic and acute stress can disturb the body’s equilibrium and balance, leading to both physical symptoms (headaches, problems sleeping, digestive problems, chronic pain, restlessness) and emotional symptoms (depression, panic, anxiety, anger, eating disorders, emotion/mood regulation difficulty).

 
 

COMMON EXTERNAL STRESSORS

  • MAJOR LIFE CHANGES

  • WORK/SCHOOL CHALLENGES & TRANSITIONS

  • DEATH OF A FRIEND/LOVED ONE

  • DIVORCE

  • MARRIAGE/RELATIONSHIP DIFFICULTIES

  • FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES

  • ILLNESS

  • PHYSICAL PAIN

 
 

COMMON INTERNAL STRESSORS

  • UNCONTROLLABLE MOODS / EMOTIONS / THOUGHTS

  • PESSIMISM

  • FEAR

  • INABILITY TO ACCEPT UNCERTAINTY OR LACK OF CONTROL

  • LACK OF FLEXIBILITY

  • NEGATIVE SELF-TALK, LOW SELF-WORTH / VALUE

  • UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS, DEEPLY HELD BELIEFS

  • PERFECTIONISM

H O W D O Y O U K N O W W H E N I T I S T I M E F O R H E L P ?

It takes a lot of courage to ask for help. Many of us have unrealistic expectations of ourselves - we just have to be ‘strong’, we can get through it / fix it on our own, we will be ‘fine’ just suffering in silence. But to ask for help is to truly be STRONG. Being truly strong is knowing that you have to take care of yourself and your relationships, and realizing that you may not know how to do so on your own. That you need help identifying and developing the tools necessary to make the changes and improvements you need. Life may not have equipped us with all the tools, but we are designed to acquire them as we seek the help of others."

 
 
 
 
 
 

A F E W E A R L Y S I G N S

  • You can’t stop worrying about your current situation, or your anxiety about the future is increasing

  • Your sleep patterns have changed: sleeping too much or too little, experiencing insomnia, restless sleep due to anxious thoughts

  • You are experiencing increased relationship conflict, or conflict has become chronic. You’re feeling increasingly frustrated or more easily annoyed

  • You’re experiencing more feelings of hopelessness or helplessness

  • Life stressors feel overwhelming to you

  • You’re recently experienced a loss and are having difficulty coping

  • You catch yourself trying to numb yourself to escape from feelings - social media use, substance use, sleep, and other distractions

  • You feel isolated and lonely

  • You find yourself making bad or impulsive decisions, which only result in more negative feelings about yourself