Psychotherapy Day
By Kevin Lahey, Clinical Intern
It should come as no surprise that all of us at Owens & Associates Counseling & Therapy Center write about the stigma surrounding mental health and reaching out for help regularly in these blog posts. Sure, we can’t do our jobs if people aren’t reaching out for help, but more importantly, people are staying silent about their struggles when help is available. Progress has been made and continues to be made in reducing stigma, but we still have a lot of work to do. Fortunately, days like today offer great opportunities to do what we can to get the word out regarding seeking treatment for one’s mental health.
September 25th is National Psychotherapy Day. The word “psychotherapy” often brings about thoughts of laying on a couch while someone sits next to you asking, “How does that make you feel?”. It’d be a lie to say that part of this wasn’t true, but psychotherapy is so much more than that. It’s not some cold and impersonable experience that aims to make you feel sad or scared. In fact, psychotherapy should bring about the opposite of those feelings! Psychotherapy is having a conversation with someone who cares and wants to see you succeed and find happiness. Psychotherapy, in reality, means treating mental conditions through communication with someone whose sole focus is your well being. With that broad definition, it’s no surprise that what psychotherapy looks like can differ from person to person and from therapist to therapist, and when it comes to your own mental health, it’s perfectly okay to “shop around” and find a form of psychotherapy or a therapist that works well for you.
It’s important to remember that a therapy session is a collaborative effort between the therapist and the client, and that the client feeling both safe and empowered are just a few of the goals therapists go into sessions with. It’s also important for these messages to reach as many people as possible, and that’s why we make blog posts like this. Even if these posts only reach a handful of people, it’s still chipping away at the stigma surrounding mental health treatment. Slowly but surely, more and more people are reaching out to get the help they need and deserve.
If you want to give psychotherapy a try, don’t hesitate to reach out to Owens & Associates Counseling & Therapy Center! Call our admin team at 847-854-4333 to schedule an appointment and get started on your own therapy journey. All of us here are more than happy to help, and with our many therapists, we’re sure we can find someone who you’ll enjoy working with.