I had an afternoon Starbucks with a friend yesterday. One of the discussions was about the big growth in their business over the last couple of months. Growth in business is always a good thing, but it is a little ironic in this case. Their business is counseling and therapy. Growth in that business means more people need help with certain things in their life, but it also means more people are acknowledging they need help. Counseling has a certain stigma attached to it for some reason. You will hear comments ranging from “Are you losing your mind to can’t you fix your own issues to counseling is for quitters and candy asses…” I’ve heard um all.
We all need help at some point, and to me, counseling and therapy is no different than asking for help with any other situation in life. I’m not a carpenter but Richard is, so I would ask him if I needed help with a carpentry project. I’m not a math whiz but Sally is, so I would ask her if I needed help with math. I know a lot about computers, and people ask me for help all the time. In all those instances, it is no different from seeking help from a counselor. What is different though is concluding you need help.
When I decided to start seeing Jamie almost five years ago, it happened after I concluded there was no way I could fix what was broken in my life at that time. I did not see it as failure or weakness but more realizing I just needed help. It warms my heart to see that my friend’s practice is experiencing big growth. It means more people out there are concluding they need help, and that’s A Good Thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment