Perspectives Counseling and Consultation

Transcript of video above:

"Hi. My name is Tammy, and I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you to my website. I also thought I would answer two of the more common questions that I tend to get asked in regards to counseling.  The first one being, “how is counseling going to help me?”.  This is really a great question and an important one that you should have answered.  Counseling at its heart is really just an effective strategy to help people gain a deeper understanding of their emotions and their thoughts, and any patterns of behavior that may be keeping them stuck in their lives.  I really believe that we have the key to solving our own happiness, and often times, it’s self-imposed barriers that are preventing us from achieving this.  Through counseling, you and I can start examining what the thoughts are that are leading to the emotions you’re experiencing, and what negative patterns of behavior you might be engaging in, that you’re not even aware of , are contributing to you feeling stuck, frozen, unmotivated, depressed, or anxious in your life.  Once you start identifying what those self-imposed barriers are, you have the power of removing them.  As we start removing those barriers, you’re going to experience a greater self-esteem, more confidence in your life, and all of a sudden you’re going to feel motivated to start making changes that get you along your pathway towards achieving your goals and creating the happiness that you deserve and you feel like you want.

The second question that I get asked a lot is in regards to medication: “Are you going to be prescribing me meds?”  Well, this is a really important question to ask also, and you should know that, as a therapist, I’m not able to prescribe medications.  If meds are something that you are interested in, I will have to refer you to your doctor.  That being said, I’m not the kind of therapist who believes wholeheartedly that medications are the answer.  I really believe that we have the ability to solving most of our problems ourselves.  Medications can be an effective tool, however, as an adjunct to counseling.  Through counseling, you and I can determine if meds are really going to be beneficial for you.  More often than not, I tend to err on the side of helping you solve your problems and remove barriers without the use of medications.  Once we start getting to know each other and we start examining your past, and some of the thoughts and feelings that you are struggling with,  I can give you effective coping strategies so that you can start feeling more in control of your body and your emotions, and medications might not even be necessary.  Should, however, we get to a point where we decide that medications might be a helpful tool for you to try, then I will refer you to your doctor or a doctor that we decide on.  I really view medications as being steps on a ladder.  So for instance, if you were stuck in a hole, like in a well, and you had a ladder with you but the ladder was missing the first 3 steps, medications can fill in those first 3 steps for you. But, then YOU have to climb the rest of the way out. So again, medications are just a tool that might be beneficial for you, but that’s something you and I can determine through the counseling relationship.  And if you are wholeheartedly against medications, I will not be pushing medications on you.  If you decide that medications are right for you, I’ll support you in that decision as well. 

Well, if there are any further questions, I’d encourage you to send me an email through my website, or give me a phone call.  My phone number is 617-543-5730.  And please, while you are here, take a minute to look around my website, click on some of the links, and read what past clients have said about me.  I really appreciate you stopping by, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.  Best wishes, and have a wonderful evening."

Do you have more questions that you would like answered?  If so, send them to me by clicking on theContact Perspectives Counseling page and I'll be happy to answer them!