Psychological counseling may be able to help if you are experiencing any of the following:

• Intense sadness lasting longer than two weeks
• Excessive fear about what might happen
• Relationship troubles
• Grief over a death, loss, or significant change
• High stress
• Trouble sleeping
• Body image issues (hate your body or parts of your body)
• Self-hatred (feeling worthless, irrelevant, invisible)
• Compulsions you can’t seem to control, such as binge eating, smoking/vaping, sex, porn, gambling, gaming, shopping, excessive electronic use (television, Instagram, Tik Tok, Youtube, etc.) to distract and feel better
• Nightmares and intrusive thoughts
• Racing thoughts you can’t stop

  These issues tend to be the most frequent reasons people seek psychological counseling. The main objectives of counseling are to provide you with (1) useful tools and techniques with which to better navigate life, (2) insightful feedback for changing what can be changed, and (3) skills to cope with what cannot be changed.

  After counseling is completed, the benefits you might see could include:

  • Better understanding of yourself, your goals, and your values
  • Improved life coping skills
  • Resolved issues or concerns
  • Better ways of managing anger, grief, depression, or other emotional pressures
  • Improved communication and listening skills
  • Development of healthier life patterns (and elimination of old harmful patterns)
  • New ways to solve problems
  • Improved self-esteem and confidence

Typically, counseling sessions occur weekly, with each session lasting approximately 50 minutes. Psychological counseling can be short-term focused whereby we work on resolving a single issue, or it can be longer-term focused whereby we work on resolving more complex issues such as trauma (both child and adult onset), depression, anxiety or phobias, or addiction. To change one’s thoughts and behaviors, one must practice thinking and behaving differently. Thus, we will ask you to take certain actions in between sessions such as reading a relevant book, tracking certain behaviors, or practicing new thoughts and behaviors. This “homework” is vital. For psychotherapy to be most effective, you must be an active participant.

If you’ve never worked with a psychotherapist before, you might have certain ideas or expectations about how to be in session. Some people believe they should not disagree with the psychotherapist or not ask questions, however, this would be a mistake. Psychological counseling is a collaborative relationship where both you and the psychotherapist play an active role. You bring to counseling your values, your experiences, and your perspectives. The psychotherapist brings tools, techniques, and feedback intended to facilitate change.

Below are a few suggestions to help you get the most out of your sessions:

• Don’t pretend to be okay.
• Regularly attend sessions, and be an active participant
• Be prepared for each session by focusing on your desired goal
• Be open to discuss issues blocking goal achievement
• Be willing to practice new behaviors in and out of session
• Be open and honest about how sessions are going
• Ask questions

Yes, we follow the standard legal and ethical guidelines which state that any personal health info (PHI) (such as name, address, or diagnosis) cannot be shared without written permission from you (or, in cases where you are under 18 years old, your guardian). However, there are a few exceptions to maintaining confidentiality and they are if there is a possibility of harm to yourself, another person, a child, or a dependent elder. In these cases, psychotherapists are mandated by law to report these instances to appropriate authorities.

The first counseling session is an important time for you and your psychotherapist to get to know each other and build trust. You will likely share what brings you to counseling, what goals you expect to achieve, as well as information about your background, and the names of previous psychotherapists with whom you’ve worked. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and evaluate your psychotherapist’s counseling style. You may be asked to complete a variety of assessments to more rapidly pinpoint behavioral and cognitive issues needing adjustment.

Psychotherapy typically lasts until you achieve the goals you set for yourself. At Best Life Counseling, we take a collaborative approach to counseling in which we work with you to define the goals you want to achieve and then help you achieve them through a variety of therapies and solutions. If short-term, single issue counseling is desired, you may complete counseling in several months. If longer-term, complex issues need to be addressed, counseling can last considerably longer.