As a Counsellor, I Understand Why You Are Anxious About Counselling
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Seeing a therapist for the first time can be daunting
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Therapists also have regular therapy – here counsellor Carla Boulton shares her own anxiety around therapy
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If anxiety and indecision is making it difficult to find the right therapist for you, we can help – find out more here
I’m driving to see my counsellor…yes counsellors have counsellors too. I have several years of established relationship with mine, I trust her with my innermost stuff and she has helped me to understand major things from my past which I was carrying into my now. Anyway, today’s the day, we have a session booked. Here’s how it goes…
I’m in the shower, “Now, if I just feel a bit poorly I won’t need to go.”
I’m getting in my car, “If I run out of petrol I won’t need to go.”
I’m driving along the long stretch of road that takes me there and at every turn I’m thinking, “I’m going to turn around, if I just go down here I can go home.”
I’m outside her office and I’m thinking, “She hasn’t seen me, I can turn around and go home.”
Then, she comes to the gate and it’s too late, I’m going to have to do this.
Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know that it’s very usual to feel apprehension about seeing a therapist. It’s very usual to want to turn around and escape to a very safe place i.e. “I can go home, instead of exposing my feelings, instead of showing myself”.
In sharing something of my own experience, I hope I can help you to see that I get how odd it is to begin to work with a new counsellor – or even re-visit one you know.
How often do we go somewhere we have never been before, meet someone new face-to-face at this unknown place and then shut ourselves in a (usually) small room with the new person? We know we will sit quietly in that room with no distractions and begin to open-up about very personal details to the unknown person – how strange is that?
So, I want to reassure you, I know it can be anxiety-inducing visiting a counsellor for the first – or even the thirty-first – time. My aim is to help you feel comfortable and to grow a relationship based on trust and confidentiality.
Are you ready to talk?
Carla Boulton is a verified welldoing.org therapist in Shrewsbury.
