Previously I wrote a blog post about being equipped with counselling and psychotherapy as #WorldMentalHealthDay is coming up on October 10. I mentioned how the course can help the distressed by giving an overview of the helping professional. I shared my personal experience working in the healthcare setting and why people seek help due the problem situations they face. I would like to share the three principle goals of helping from the course. Firstly, life-enhancing outcomes, second learning self-help and third prevention mentality. Lastly, what a successful outcome of counselling looks like.
Goal One: Life-enhancing Outcomes
Help clients to manage their problems in living more effectively and to develop unused or underused resources and opportunities more fully.
Best when done in client-directed outcome informed manner
Goal Two: Learning Self-Help
Help clients become better at helping themselves in their everyday lives
Goal Three: Prevention Mentality
Helping clients develop an action-oriented prevention mentality in their lives
Setting up resources to prevent future distress
Recognizing how to maximize unused opportunities
Results Focus
A successful outcome of counseling requires that clients go away able to manage their problems in living more effectively and to develop opportunities on their own.
Sharing some form of the problem-management and opportunity-development process with them during sessions is essential in order for this to occur.
For a successful outcome, clients need:
(1) to participate actively in the problem-management process during the helping sessions.
(2) to apply what they learn to managing immediate problems and opportunities
(3) to continue to mange their lives more effectively after the formal helping period is over.
My journey with mental health
With these principles in mind, I started seeing a counselor as I wanted to manage my problem more effectively and develop opportunities on my own. Back in 2019, I had wanted to fulfill my dream of going the entrepreneurial way as I wanted to more freedom to choose the job as a private teacher. My immediate problem was that my contract job ended and I was left without a safety net and feeling burnt out by the demands of the previous job.
In a depressed state
My mental health was at the lowest as I felt more depressed than excited about starting on this path as the road ahead seemed too long and far ahead. When I held other jobs as an employee I often wondered what it was like being on my own. I recalled the early period of 2019 vacillating between looking for a job or continue the path of tutoring.
The internal self-doubt and turmoil started and I have worked with the counselor to manage the job search process. Days were so trying finding out the “opportunity development” process that I lacked motivation as I was tired from having to make decisions. On top of that, I perceived myself to be “lazy” as I hardly exercised or wanted to get out there to make new friends.
Develop an action-oriented prevention mentality
My counselor took a goal oriented purpose where I have to set daily goals to exercise or to speak to one new person to expand my social circle for example. It was a difficult period and I started taking small action steps to get out there to exercise at the park daily. I started keep a daily mood journal like rating my mood on daily basis on a scale out of 10. Initially I started off with rating my mood as low or depressed. However, small action steps helped as I wanted to improve my mood from a low of 4 to 8.
Small Goals to get out of depression
With such a scale, I gained more self-confidence whenever I made new friends or keep the habit of exercise for a few days in a role and boosted my self-confidence. I started managing my mood better by celebrating every small wins like getting new customers or exceeding my daily steps by crossing 10000 for example. I grew a lot in terms of understanding self and became more aware of every negative thought that would spiral downwards. I took a prevention approach by ensuring that I would maintain my mood by going out for a walk in nature and so leave negative self-talk behind and forge a more positive self-esteem by loving self more.
All about Lina Lifestyle 