Scarleteen

While working with mental health professionals is often an important part of healing from certain events or managing mental illness, plenty of people still find the process daunting. What I want this thread to be is a space for people who have been through or are currently using counseling to share the things that helped them feel less intimidated by the process.

For me, something that helped was finally finding a provider who explained to me his thought process for treatment recommendations. It helps me understand why the approaches might help me, and also helps me feel like he's actually thinking about my specific needs rather than giving a pat recommendation.

Last year, my sister and I were able to go to a therapist because of my mom's insurance benefits. My sister went to about tenish and I went to one. We had to stop because her benefits changed, but I enjoyed it. The therapist was really helpful, and I was really able to open up to them. Plus, at the beginning, she told me everything about the process, and everything.

I'm a little late to this thread, but I wanted to add: I found it helpful to realize it's really hard to shock them!

When I first started therapy in high school, I was scared that I would say something that they would have never heard before, and would somehow freak them out.

But I've learned that with a well-trained, well-experienced therapist, they will have come across it all! Or at least have learned about it. And their job is to open and non-judgmental. Once that settled in, it was way easier for me to open up, and share all the deepest darkest things.

This thread is old but hopefully this will still help someone! I found it easy for myself to calm down and open up (when I was first getting to know my counselor) if I had something in my hands. So maybe the sleeve of a sweatshirt, a water bottle, just something to hold was very comforting! I also would take a coffee or pastry as a 'reward' for taking care of myself and going to therapy.
Good luck!!

Something I've found helpful is being able to say to my therapist when I'm struggling to talk about something, or when something she says feels either wrong or true but too upsetting to deal with just then. Being able to give context and say things like "I hate talking about this even though I know it's good for me" or "I don't quite understand this method and I don't think it's working for me" helps me feel like I'm giving my therapist a better sense of who I am and how I deal with the therapy process as a whole, which then helps her figure out how best to help me.