Who Counseling Can Help

to her enviornmentCounseling Can Help Anyone

Aware of it or not, counseling can help anyone. Usually, though, whatever “it” is, “it” is only a problem if you say so. Language and culture have a ton of power over what someone thinks is worthy of needing counseling.

Piper’s Story

When I say counseling can help anyone, I mean it. This has been true for Piper, the office therapy dog. Even though she is a dog, her story is very relevant for us humans. She knows what it is like to go through a huge transformative process. She has had to experience exposure to things outside her comfort zone, coaching and eventually, new ways or relating to her environment. Pipers confidence has grown leaps and bounds because of her efforts and good counseling.

Piper is a Border Collie who was born on a farm in Lebanon, Missouri. Her mom and dad are full time herding dogs who breed pups to work the local farms.

So, there were about four litters of puppies born at the same time as Piper. Without knowing how many puppies in each litter, that is about 20 puppies living in the barn together with their parents. When we met Piper she suffered from a lot of anxiety. She could barely come out from behind the couch. Piper came to me much like you will–not much else of her past was known; but unlike you, she is unable to share her experiences with me with words.

Relational Anxiety

If Piper were a human, you could say she suffers from relational anxiety. Her reaction to new people was less than desirable. She would hide like a cat, growl, and sometimes snap. She had to be carried through the threshold of doorways because she had so much fear about what lay beyond.

Piper entered counseling. If you think of relational anxiety, what could you guess someone, human or not, would need? Here is the answer: She required social learning and practice which builds confidence. Piper also needed constant exposure and to be set up for success. Everyone knows rewards work well, too. What everyone doesn’t know is that rewards work for humans as well over any other teaching method.

Piper’s Success

Eventually, with consistent and persistent therapy, Pipers relational anxiety has diminished 85%. With continued practice, she is expected to gain up to 90% comfort relating to people. Notice that is not 100% because maybe being wary is just a part of her personal struggle. Piper will inevitably lack confidence at some point, which is okay. No one is perfect all the time, but you can certainly learn ways to cope and feel better most of the time.

Can Counseling Help You?

Like Piper, you have a hurdle in front of you and can benefit from counseling. Whatever it is, there are ways to cope and get through life’s curve balls. Counseling will teach you to think differently, reward yourself, love yourself, accept yourself and parts of your life that you can’t change.

Call us today and let’s get started!