I’ve struggled with my mental health pretty much my whole life, but it wasn’t until just a little while ago that I finally took the step to get help. At the end of 2018, I talked with my family doctor about options for therapy, and she recommended me to a counselling and self-help program called Bounce Back. I started the program at the beginning of January 2019 and completed it in May. I went through a lot of personal growth in those five months, and much of it was sparked by this counselling program.
Bounce Back is a program funded by the Canadian Mental Health Association in Ontario, Canada, and is designed to give adults and youth an accessible way to manage anxiety and depression. Completing the program cost me nothing; all I needed was a referral from my doctor. During my time in the program, I completed self-help workbooks that covered a wide range of topics related to my personal struggles, and I had counselling sessions over the phone with my counsellor every few weeks. This program was a great starting point towards taking control of my mental health. If you live in Ontario and are considering therapy, I’d highly recommend considering this program.
The thought of admitting your mental health struggles and asking for help may seem intimidating. I let fear hold me back from getting help for so long. I convinced myself no one would understand me, I was afraid that my anxiety would prevent me from expressing myself properly, and I was scared to talk to a stranger about my mental health issues. But looking back, I wish I had found the courage to ask for help much sooner.
Related Post: How to Care for Your Mental Health
There’s no shame in admitting you need help. When it comes to your mental health, it’s often essential to ask for help. Take it from someone who was skeptical about counselling and therapy for a very long time; even just telling someone you need help will make you feel better. If you struggle with your mental health and you’ve been considering counselling or therapy, I hope this post gives you that little push forward. Let’s dive into seven benefits counselling will have for your mental health.
1.You’ll learn the importance of checking in with yourself.
At the beginning of every counselling session, my counsellor would get me to evaluate how I’d been feeling over the past few days on a 1-10 scale. If I said anything lower than a 5, we’d take some time to talk about why I’d been feeling that low. This process of reflecting on my mental health really showed me how important it is to check in with yourself on a regular basis. It helps you ground your thoughts and connect with your emotions, and it’s the first step towards dealing with whatever you’re struggling with. Checking in with yourself can be as simple as taking a quiet moment and asking yourself, “How am I?” It’s a simple process that creates significant benefit for your mental health.
2. You’ll address your mental health struggles in a safe environment.
For a long time, instead of addressing my anxiety or depression, I’d try to suppress it or run away from it. I’d pretend it didn’t exist, and that actually made me feel worse. I’ve learned that pushing away your mental health struggles usually won’t make them disappear. Talking with a counsellor about the emotions, thoughts, and situations you struggle with can be a huge benefit. I found it very liberating to admit my feelings out loud, and to receive comfort and actionable advice in return. Your counsellor is there to help you with your struggles, not to judge you because of them. By facing your mental health struggles head on, you’ll be more likely to find effective ways to cope with them.
Related Post: 8 Ways to Deal With Difficult Emotions
3. You’ll rethink your thoughts.
It can often be too easy to get caught up, lost, and controlled by some unhelpful and extreme thoughts, especially when you deal with anxiety or depression. Counselling will help you question those thoughts and take some of their power away. One of the most helpful things I learned in this counselling program was the strategy of separating yourself from your thoughts, almost as if they are floating above you and not in your mind. When you distance yourself from these unhelpful thoughts, you’ll be able to take back the power, change your mindset, and rethink your thoughts.
4. You’ll learn how to express how you feel and why you feel that way.
One of the biggest reasons I wanted to go through counselling was to improve the way I express and describe how I feel to others. When I’m experiencing a low mood or moments of anxiety, it’s really hard for me to express that to the people around me. It’s like I can’t translate my emotions into words, and I just end up getting frustrated and feeling worse. Talking with my counsellor every couple weeks gave me an opportunity to talk through my emotions and thoughts, and I feel like I got better at expressing myself in a coherent way with every session. I still struggle with this at times, but talking with my counsellor really helped me strengthen my communication skills when it comes to expressing and describing how I feel.
5. You’ll discover coping mechanisms and strategies to take care of your mental health.
The self-help workbooks and my counsellor provided me with useful coping mechanisms and strategies to help me deal with the struggles I faced. Without counselling, I probably wouldn’t have been able to discover these strategies. I still refer back to what I learned throughout the program and apply it to situations in my life. When you’re dealing with a mental health issue, it’s essential to find ways to help you through it. Counselling will give you the coping mechanisms and strategies that will make caring for your mental health more manageable.
Related Post: How to Have an Effective Mental Health Day
6. You’ll gain perspective and be guided toward revelations.
Talking to someone outside of your immediate circle is a great way to gain perspective on your mental health situation. A counsellor will help you see your struggles in a different light and guide you towards a solution you might not have thought of before. Counsellors are trained to help you, and even if not everything they suggest works for you, they’ll at least help you see your situation in a new way and show you that there are many ways to get through it.
7. You’ll improve your relationship to yourself.
This is probably the most important benefit you’ll gain from counselling. My counselling program helped me strengthen my relationship to my emotions, thoughts, and overall mental health. I became more aware of my struggles and more connected to the coping mechanisms and strategies that work for me. Counselling will strengthen your self-reflection and self-awareness, which will help you take care of your mental health in life-changing ways.
Counselling or therapy might not cure your mental health issues, but it will definitely help you live with them. I still deal with anxiety and depression, but now I know what works for me to help me through it. I can’t say this enough: if you need help, ask for it. You don’t need to go through this alone. There is no shame in seeking counselling and therapy. It might seem intimidating at first, but the benefits for your mental health will make it all worth it.
what do you think?