I (Anne Milligan, LCSW) am always amazed at the number of people who need help at various times along life's journey and yet never actually end up in a therapist's office. I am sure a lot of this has to do with a deeper self-conscious insecurity about what "others might think" if they find out the person is seeing a therapist.

I'd like to make a few points, from my many years sitting in the therapist's chair, that might help you or someone you care about, make that first phone call a little easier:

• Very rarely do I see clients in my outpatient office who are anything other than "normal". Most of them are the same type people you might see in the grocery store or around your office at work. There is nothing abnormal about them at all, except that they have reached a rough patch in life and need some direction. How abnormal is that?
• In some kind of magical way that I am not even sure I understand myself, the mere act of asking for help seems to set change in motion. "Ask and you will receive".... Hmmmm. Something to think about.
• Therapists such as myself who have ten to twenty or more years of therapy experience under our belts often describe a kind of intuitive "third eye" that we have grown while meeting hundreds and thousands of clients in their darker times. This is why many of my clients ask, after a particularly powerful session "Are you psychic"? This often makes me chuckle, but it is in those times that I know my third eye has been activated again. That kind of intuition is often what makes a difference when people come to therapy having lost control (or perspective) in some area of their lives.
• Many people are concerned about the cost of therapy sessions and I'm sure that keeps a lot of people from making that call.
  There are often more options available than one might think, including insurance options that the insurance companies don't advertise too loudly, even to their policyholders. Also, if you think about the amount of money that is spent daily for the most un-useful and even un-healthy products, well... maybe some priorities are in order here.

Asking for help is tough for almost everybody. Making the first phone call is really the hardest part of all. Most of my clients are surprised at how easy it is, once they are in the office, to talk about their lives and concerns. They also are surprised, almost always surprised, how much they learn about the "problem" and how much more vast they are in terms of their potential for insight and growth.

If this information helps at all, send an e-mail and let me know,  and/or let me know what other questions and concerns you might like to see addressed about therapy on this page. To send an e-mail CLICK HERE

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