Return and Report

Much of counseling is listening to the progress someone has made as they return to report their progress. Reporting progress is a necessary part of therapy. Without it a person loses their ability to be accountable, maintain focus, keep goals on site, and maintain momentum.

Accountability

Self-motivation is very difficult for most people. One of the major benefits of having a counselor is that people have someone that they will be reporting to about their progress. People often work on their goals, only because they know they will be reporting back to someone.

Sharpening Focus

The minutiae of life often bombard us with alternative things to think about. We get so caught up on dealing with every day problems that we lose site of the thing we are focusing on. One of the benefits of counseling is that the counselor helps a person focus back into the problem they were originally trying to solve.

Organizing Thoughts and Emotions

People often come to counseling in order to make sense out of a disarray of thoughts and emotions. Oftentimes a person doesn’t actually know what they know, until they have spent time organizing those thoughts and emotions. Once they feel organized, they can feel like they can tackle the next step. Until then, they often feel like a mass of confusion. 

Defining Goals

Oftentimes, the trial and error of trying to solve a problem gives people insight into the nature of the issue. Once people better understand a problem, they often adjust their goals. The adjustment of the goals helps people tackle the problem from a different angle. Unless a person is taking the time to sit down and talk about the situation, they are not likely to think about it enough to be able to redefine it.

Gaining Momentum

When working on a difficult problem, it is easy to become discouraged and lose momentum. A counselor can be someone that helps people see the progress in their actions. This progress can help a person feel less defeated and able to make another step forward.