By Maureen White
I began my professional career as a teacher establishing goals, providing guidance and inspiration, testing results and ultimately transforming willing, but sometimes apprehensive students into empowered travelers on the bumpy road of life. Education starts out emphasizing technical skills with some social orientation, however, it is not until we encounter the complexities of adult life and relationships that our emotional core becomes challenged.
As a therapist we work together to discover the reservoir of emotional strength inside us all by sharing the evolution of our personal life experiences while analyzing the choices made along the sometimes paved and sometimes unpaved road of our emotional lives.
Clients are made aware that there is a history of success in treating their issues, which encourages them to be confident that progress can be made if that client actively works on changing their perceptions and patterns of behavior. Therapy like teaching has as its ultimate goal, empowering the individual to learn new methods and behaviors that support the healing process.
Exercises such as journaling, self-help reading assignments, letter writing, and affirmations help clients change perceptions. The success of therapy is a highly personalized synergism between therapist and client based on mutual respect and trust.
Sometimes all a client actually needs are updated road maps, new destinations, some sense of the distance needed to travel from the present into the future. If a few pieces of life’s puzzle are missing, a change in perception can fill in the gaps. Positive reinforcement can help a client realize that there are rewards all along the journey once a commitment to change is made.