Over the past several decades, studies and surveys have shown that men, of all ages, are less likely to seek help for mental problems than women. With suicide in men at an all time high, we at Male Standard think it is important for males to acknowledge any issues they are experiencing and seek help through counseling. This article will highlight the importance of counseling and the advantages it offers.
A Place of Safety
Whilst many of us have solid relationships with our friends and families, it is often difficult to open up and discuss our innermost issues and struggles. Counselling is a place of safety in which we can discuss our issues with people outside of our inner circle. This safe place allows you to enter a space which is confidential and open to all discussions. The highly trained professionals are ready to engage in dialogue and offer support and guidance. Men can often hide true feelings and emotions from the outside world, counseling is a place where this can be removed and you can be your true self without judgement.
Empathy
Empathy is important to our overall well-being in which we aim to be understood, known and validated. This can often be missing in our daily lives and may need addressing. The skill of a trained counselor can remove this, in which they create an experience of empathy and allow us to open up with issues. Empathy is an important human emotion and can be developed when discussing mental health with a therapist.
For those that don’t want to participate in one-on-one counseling in a face-to-face setting, there are also great advantages of telephone counseling. You can learn more about telephone counseling at BetterHelp.
Guidance
The aim of a counselor or therapist can be to give advice but it is mainly to offer guidance. This can be specific guidance to issues or can also be to offer alternatives and a different perspective. By confiding in a therapist, the guidance and perspective they offer can be helpful in many ways. If a client asks for advice or an opinion, the therapist might offer this and share their thoughts or encourage a client to try a thinking strategy. Take advantage of this and be open to guidance from others.
Conclusion
Anyone can enjoy the benefits of therapy, you don’t need to be in a debilitating crisis to get support. Regardless of the individual’s circumstances, counseling is very important and should be an option for everyone. We recommend people and men in-particular to be proactive about their mental health, with this this larger issues further down the road can be prevented.
If we have missed any key issues please leave a comment below, we will be happy to update and add to the article.