What is counseling? Is it for me?

These are common questions I hear, and I find it most helpful to use a metaphor in answering. I like to think of the counselor as a temporary guide who is helping the individual to traverse a challenging part of their unique life path.

As we move through life, we are all moving along our own personal life paths. Your path is unique and specific to you, as mine is unique and specific to me. It is typical for life paths to have many twists and turns and stops along the way, for there to be high points and low points, and times where we are moving forward quickly vs times where our movement seems to slow to a crawl. But sometimes an individual can feel that they have hit a road block and don’t seem to be moving forward anymore at all.

Road blocks can come in many forms, as varied and unique as the individual and their path. Sometimes we feel stalled out because something has physically blocked our path forward, something from outside of us that we have no control over. Sometimes we feel stalled out because of something inside of us, like different parts of us do not agree on which direction to go next and are arguing at a crossroads.

Sometimes when we hit roadblocks on our path we quickly and easily find a detour on our own, but sometimes we can feel like we hit a roadblock and cannot seem to get unstuck no matter what we do. This is when a counselor can be helpful.

As a counselor, I function as a temporary guide for those who have hit a roadblock or otherwise feel stalled out on their own life path. A guide does not walk the path for the individual they are assisting, but a guide has often helped others traverse a similar path many times before and knows what types of tools and skills will be necessary. A guide knows obstacles that might be coming later down the path and can help the individual to see those obstacles coming and prepare for them.

A guide does not stay with the individual they are assisting forever, guiding through every aspect of the rest of their life. A guide helps temporarily, with a specific part of one’s path, until the individual is ready to continue on alone again. Ideally a guide helps equip the individual with tools and skills they can then continue to use on their path even once the guide is no longer present. This allows the individual to become their own guide.

It is my job to help you develop your own Inner Guide so you can feel stronger and more confident about facing your path on your own again. If it seems that you could benefit from this type of assistance, then counseling IS for you. I look forward to hearing from you.