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Comfortability and Safety

December 6, 2022
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There’s a difference between feeling comfortable and feeling safe. Safety is knowing that you are not going to be harmed physically or emotionally, and that is something that should always be expected and honored. Since becoming a therapist, I have found that the word comfortable, however, does not always describe therapy. Therapy can sometimes bring up changes that adjust the status quo, and that is not always easy or comfortable.

There isn’t anything wrong with the status quo on its own. It’s comforting knowing what to expect. The problem comes when the status quo enables unhealthy habits. Let’s take a simple example. Maybe there is a candy bowl at the front desk of your workplace or somewhere you visit often. As almost anyone would, you take a piece. You strike up a conversation with the front desk person, and it becomes a routine for the two of you. The front desk worker keeps the bowl filled, you take one, and enjoy a conversation f ...

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Counseling Process
comfortable
safety

The Value of a Career Counselor

October 25, 2022
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The starting point of career exploration often is completing an online career assessment. Too often, though, the person simply takes a look at the results, thinks “that’s interesting,” and then files it away. To be forgotten and never to be seen again. Limited value, for sure.

What you need is to add value to the assessment by sitting down with a career counselor to do some serious probing and exploring. What does the assessment’s profile mean for me? My passions, interests, values and skills? For my future to be meaningful and fulfilling?

Essentially, the career counselor, by utilizing probing conversations, will guide you to identify, clarify and integrate your key attributes. Key attributes such as themes in your personal life story, your purpose, your interests and values, skills and capabilities. We will identify pivotal experiences and personal characteristics that ...

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Career Consultation

Making Sense of Emotions

October 19, 2022
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What if someone told you that everything you think about emotions is wrong? As people, we like categories. Categories help us make sense of the world around us and ourselves. In an effort to help understand ourselves, we place emotions into such categories.

Often, people will discuss negative and positive emotions. What if there are no good or bad emotions? When you focus on something being negative or positive, then you are more likely to focus on the positive aspects than the negative. This could lead to behaviors that could be damaging, causing individuals to withdraw when emotions are not considered positive. When you feel happy, you may feel social and want to spend time with people around you. When you are excited you are eager to share. However, what happens when you’re sad or jealous? Do you share those emotions with others, do you allow yourself to explore how the emotions feel in your body, or do you suppress them?

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Emotions

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emotional intelligence