Thoughts from a Graduate Counseling Intern - Part Three

Here at Diversified Health and Wellness Center, we encourage our interns to talk about their experience with mental health and how it impacts their time as a graduate counseling intern. We started our "Thoughts from a Graduate Counseling Intern" only a couple months ago, and we found that our interns provide such helpful insights to this field. Today, we revisited one of our graduate interns to get their thoughts on needing a therapist AS a therapist:

"Mental health is, in all honesty, probably not anyone’s favorite topic. It can be incredibly hard to confront the fact that we might need help. However, counseling is the best thing that ever happened to me.

As a counseling intern, many people assume I have no need for therapy. I know all of the techniques and theories, right? So, why do I need someone to tell me what I already know?

It boils down to this: My therapist will call me on my bullshit. It’s easy to lie and say, “I’m not doing terrible, it’s fine! I can push off self-care just a little longer.” When in reality, I need to be doing self-care daily. I tell my clients to always make time for themselves, but sometimes I need someone to remind me to take my own advice.

Counseling may not be the most fun appointment in my schedule, but it is the most important. Keeping ourselves on track can be hard and frustrating, so having someone there pushing us and cheering us on is vital. I’m incredibly lucky that I have an awesome therapist to push me, while also being able to counsel others and be that support for them.

Don’t be afraid to reach out. We’ve all been there!"

Written by Jennifer Johnson, Graduate Counseling Intern

Lindenwood University