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Individual counseling assists you in clarifying your concerns, examining the solutions you have tried, and developing new coping strategies. During the first meetings, your counselor will gather information about your personal, intellectual, and emotional style, as well as your relationships and career. This assists your counselor in determining which counseling strategies will be most helpful to you.
Using this information, you and your counselor will develop goals for counseling. As counseling progresses, new goals may be formed as well. The counseling process may include learning new problem-solving or
coping skills, increasing self-understanding, exploring life patterns, and gaining a better sense of yourself.
It is important to think about what you would like to
gain from your counseling sessions. It may be helpful to jot down a list
of events, relationships, and feelings that you think are related to
your concerns. Take time before each session to think about what you
want to accomplish during that meeting. This is your counseling process,
so be active in deciding how to use the time. As issues or feelings
(either positive or negative) come up during counseling, it may be
beneficial to
share them with your counselor.