What Therapy Stage Are You In?
SURVIVAL:
Virtually all counseling clients
start at this level. You are in crisis, at a low point, depressed or anxious.
My focus here is an immediate and practical prescription for helping you regain
hope and basic functioning. This most often includes health issues such as
exercise and rest, as well as releasing pain out of the body by relaxation and
journaling.
RECOVERY:
At this stage you move on to the
relationships around you as a focus for change. You are ready to see how you
help create the painful patterns in your own life, and you go out into the
world as a scientist, observing your patterns with others. You begin to see how
you contribute to your own problems by the thinking habits you’ve formed.
PROGRESS:
Too many clients leave therapy at
this stage. The pain is eased—why go deeper? The problem with stopping here is
that the fundamental issues and reactions have not been changed yet. It’s like
stopping an antibiotic on the second day because you feel better—the basic
“infection” has not been eradicated, and will resurface in time.
PLEASURE:
A client who “stays the course”
to this stage begins to reap the deeply satisfying rewards of enjoyment and
contentment in life. Persistent body aches, migraines, rashes and recurring
illnesses often ease or disappear entirely as the client ceases to be at war
within and therefore has the energy to heal.
AWARENESS:
Once the bothersome thinking
patterns are uncovered and corrected, the client has found peace in their
personal boundaries and dealings with others. The “coaching” side of my work
now begins. I help the client explore what they want their legacy to be in
life, how to live with integrity regardless of circumstance, and dream for the
future by exploring goals.
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