How to Get the Most Out of Counseling: During the Session

Hello beautiful soul! Today I am continuing with our series on how to get the most out of counseling. Last week, I talked about things you can do before a session to make the most of your counseling experience and today I am going to talk about things you can do during sessions. None of these items are essential (well number 3 probably is), but they can definitely increase the impact of your sessions.......Read more below

1. Bring a main topic for the session.

Often, a counselor may start a session by asking about your week. If, for instance, you start talking about a trivial thing that came up that morning to answer the question you can easily find yourself spending a chunk of your session on it. If you spend time talking about a topic then your counselor may assume that it is meaningful when it might not be.

Be mindful of not spending too much time on issues that are trivial to you.

Counselors often check in about past session issues, too, and although the counselor may be checking in on a topic that is important to you, it may not be the most pressing issue that day. Be sure that if you have a new item to discuss, or at least a specific item, that you share early in the session what you would like to talk about so that there isn’t [much] session time spent on other topics.

2. Take notes during your sessions

It’s so easy to forget things discussed in counseling after a session, especially if you head right back into workday duties afterward. You may have an epiphany in a session, something that comes to your mind that answers a lot of questions about you, that would be helpful to remember in the future.

Notes can be a great reminder of the progress you are making.

Another great time to take notes is when your counselor is discussing tools that you can use to help with the issue you are facing. It is often helpful to write down specifics of how to use the tool. Or you and your counselor may have discussed homework and writing it down can help you remember the specifics of what you discussed and be a reminder to follow through with it.

3. Be open to feedback.

Typically if someone is in counseling they are already at least somewhat open to feedback or they wouldn’t be seeking counsel. However, sometimes we aren’t as open-minded as we could be so it is helpful to stay open to new tools or ways of doing things even if they are things that may not sound interesting to you or the way you would normally do something.

Testing new ideas can yield a super helpful new tool.

It is also a great idea to be open to trying things you have tried in the past. For instance, if you are someone who has tried deep breathing and didn’t feel it worked well for you, the counselor may have an idea about a different way that you can do it that might work better for you. Just because something hasn’t worked in the past doesn’t mean that you will have the same experience. You may even find a tool that is a great fit for you now.

Be sure to stay tuned for the third and final blog/vlog on how to get the most out of counseling, next time focusing on things you can do following

**Do you think I could be your “right fit” counselor? Be sure to set up a free 20-minute phone consultation at 281-746-9826 or kristen@upliftingcounsel.com. I provide counseling to clients in Texas and Oregon and would love to talk with you about the possibility of working together