How Does Counseling Work?
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
I like to use imagery when explaining to children, teenagers, and their families about how counseling works.
Imagine you take the same route everyday through the woods to your destination. The path is clear. It is easy to find and take. It doesn’t require much thought to follow the path, because the brush is cleared away. It is simple to follow, and since you have taken this path so many times, it may feel like second nature.
When you start counseling, I ask you to start taking a different path to your destination. This one is going to take more time to get through. The tree branches around this path aren’t cut back, and it isn’t always clear where to go once you are on the path. However, you have to trust me that this path is better for you and will ultimately get you where you are going in a much more effecient way.
In time you realize that the more you take this new path, the easier it becomes to use over time. The brush eventually falls away, and the path becomes clear and easy to use. In addition, once you switch to exclusively using the new path, the old path will become overrun with branches and trees, and it will become difficult to follow.
These paths that I am describing are reminiscent of how our neural pathways change when we start to alter our thought patterns and beliefs through counseling. By challenging old thoughts and developing new ones, counseling physically changes the brain by creating new neural pathways by challenging old thoughts and constructing new and more effective ways to look at things.
Additionally, since children’s brains are flexible, emotional growth and healthy behavior changes can occur quite quickly. By engaging in counseling and challenging unhealthy thought patterns, children create new ways to process their experiences which will positively impact them for years to come.