Mental Health is health. So let’s start talking about it that way! Going to a therapist or a counsellor when you are feeling sad or overwhelmed is as normal as going to the doctor when you have the flu. Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take that step. 

Counselling does not aim at diagnosing mental illness in an individual. In addition to addressing more serious emotional concerns, counselling can help with: 

• Life transitions and adjusting to new surroundings where we might experience loss or separation, move to a new city or find a new job, lack of support or change of friendships. 

• Academic concerns and difficulty in test taking or interview anxieties and it can stop one from unleashing one’s own potential or act as a barrier to equip additional skills required for career growth. 

• Difficulty juggling work, family and other responsibilities causing anger, guilt, stress, feeling incapable, unworthy and more. 

• Struggles with self- esteem issues and contributing it to lack of self-love and self-acceptance and developing self-hatred or self-critical. 

• Struggles with communication, or assertiveness and letting people take you for granted and feeling hurt by not saying NO or being upset for not able to stand for yourself. 

• Relationship concerns, be it with parents, spouse, colleagues, friends, siblings, and every other person with whom you hold a relationship but remains unlabelled and so on. 

• Counselling can help you discover your strengths, explore your courageousness, understand your abilities and capacities and enhance your potential. 

It takes a lot of courage for a person to talk about their feelings and experiences which are sensitive. When individuals choose to suppress and mask their fears, they eventually learn to overlook or overshadow their issues but not heal them. As and when they face similar situations or people with similar traits, it is natural to get triggered and get upset. A ripple effect is always stronger and sometimes more painful when not attended immediately.  

Many individuals choose family members, friends, or significant members in their life to share. The relief is momentary because they hear you and help you address your concerns for that moment or situation. Therapists/counsellors not just understand your current situation but also explore where the problem is stemming from and how it is affecting different areas of your life, help you address the current situation nd also enable you with skills to attend similar or probable difficult situations in the future. 

Your mental health is more important than the test, the interview, the lunch date, the meeting, the family dinner, the soccer game, the night out, the recital, and the grocery run. 
  

If you would like to discuss this further or need some help or support in this or any other area, our counsellors would be happy to help.