Get Yo' Mind Right Playa

So yall already know I'm a therapist. So in my professional capacity when I have a therapy session its formal, I mean informal because I'm me but I follow protocol. They come once a week (or whatever timeframe we agree to) and tell me what's up in their lives and I help them to come to conclusions and resolutions for the things that are occurring in their life and that's it. Outside the therapy room if I ran into them in the streets you wouldn't even know that I knew them unless they acknowledge me first. We're not friends. We don't hang out together. I'm just the person that they come to to talk about their problems, nothing more, nothing less.

I'm biased but I think that therapists are important. So many times people have issues and their lives and they hold it all inside because of their culture, or being afraid what people might say, or their own personal reasons and I think that counseling provides an outlet for them to address their issues rather than allowing everything to remain on the inside. Then there's people who are open enough to share their issues with their friends but they may not be able to come to the resolutions that they need to with their friends' help. Sometimes you tell your friends something and they're like, "Yeah girl that sucks." Okay, well I already knew it sucked before I told you, now what? In this situation a therapist can not only empathize with you but he/she can set goals with you to help you to overcome whatever it is.

All I'm saying is that friends and family are great and sometimes it's enough to go to them with your issues, but sometimes it's not and that's where people like me come in. I'm sooooooo happy to see that going to counseling is becoming more popular in American culture, especially African American culture. Tiny went to see someone on her reality show, Tiny and Toya, T.O. went to see a therapist on his show, Bethanny (idk if I'm spelling her name right, whatever) goes to a therapist regularly on her show, Bethanny Getting Married, the head lady on Keeping Up With The Joneses (I can't think of her name right now) went to go see a therapist. (Man, it's really sad how much reality TV I watch, geez. SMH.) Anyway, 3/4 of those people are Black so yeah seeing a therapist when necessary is what's hot. Come on, imagine sitting for an hour and just being allowed to talk about what's going on with you. It's all about you and you get to talk, vent, yell, cry, whatever while the other person listens and (unless you said something off the wall like you're gonna kill somebody or yourself of something) they can't tell anybody. Sounds great huh? I know. So don't be scurred. If something is going on in your life and you feel that you need counseling go for it. It can't hurt and although it's not likely you'll get someone as tight as me you can always hope, JK, JK, LOL. No, but real talk, I think that it's important for people to get over their false misconceptions about therapy and actually get down to solving their problems and resolving their issues. So in conclusion, "get yo mind right playa," literally. =)