We’ve had countless people tell us something along the lines of “I have this friend that needs to see youbut I wasn’t exactly sure how to tell him about you. I mean, what do I say? You need to go see a counselor..?”
It really is a tough question to answer. Our Atlanta counselors/therapists work so hard to get to know our clients and work with them to find help for the barriers in their lives, but often times people don’t want to openly talk about their own experience in counseling with other people. Their privacy is important to them, and we get that. They’ve hashed through some of their deepest issues, fears, and battles and come out better and whole. They don’t necessarily want to announce to the world that they went through something. And, our clients aren’t the only people who refer us. We have colleagues, friends, and family who all respect our passions for helping people, and want to refer.
So then, how can someone tell their friend about our amazing Atlanta counselors/therapists? Well, we’ve come up with a little list of things you can say that may help. Starting the conversation can be tricky. Sometimes it helps to just come out and say it, other times it’s better to gently point people in that direction. Here are a few things you can say:
- “Man, you two are really going through it. Have you guys ever tried counseling?”
- Wow, sounds like you two need to reconnect. Hey, this therapist wrote an article of fun questions to ask your spouse. Maybe you could try it out. We tried it and it was hysterical to hear what he said.
- Ugh, I hate when you can’t be honest with people. Do you have anyone in your family you can talk to? You need to get some of that off your chest.
- You know there’s a therapist in Atlanta. She’s supposed to be pretty good. You guys should give her a call.
- Have you heard of the 5 Love Languages, this therapist just wrote an article on it and she kind of talks about what you two are going through. You should check it out.
- I’ve never been to counseling before but people are always telling me to go. Ha ha, sounds like we should both check it out.
- Hey, I really want to work on us but I’m worried that we’re too heated. Would you be willing to go to a therapist with me? I think it could help to have a nonbiased 3rd
- “There’s this therapist I’ve heard of…she’s trained in EMDR. I’ve heard it works well with PTSD. They’ve used it with veterans and even did a 60/60 show on it.”
- I hate feeling all emotional too! Sounds like you should talk to a therapist. They’re good with that kind of stuff you know.
- I wonder if there’s someone you can talk to about that.
- I can’t even begin to try and understand what that’s like. Hey, there’s a therapist I know that has experience with that. Maybe you should talk to her.
We try to help make it easier for people to figure out if our Atlanta counselors would be a good fit in a couple different ways. We write articles, like the one you’re reading, to give people an idea of how they can start working towards change without having to take a large step of going to therapy. We also offer a no-obligation phone call for people who want to ask questions but aren’t ready to decide if they’re ready to see a Atlanta counselor/therapist.
