Full Circle Healing

04/06/2025

Are you doing something wrong if you see a certain counsellor for a while and then decide to see someone else?

Probably not. Just like friends or jobs, they don’t all last forever. In the case of counsellors, each of them will offer what they have learned. No single counsellor knows everything. It is common for a client to get what they can from a certain counsellor and then meet with a new one to learn more or get another perspective. Any counsellor should know that that is normal and healthy and should not stand in your way of you getting your needs met.

However, if you are changing counsellors frequently, maybe you should stop and check your intentions. Are you trying to learn more or are you just looking for a counsellor that will agree with your point of view?

04/05/2025

Is it okay to see more than one counsellor at the same time?

The reason to be cautious about seeing more than one counsellor at the same time is that you might receive conflicting messages from the counsellors. Then you might end up being more confused than when you started.

Sometimes it is appropriate, or even desirable, to have more than one counsellor. For example, if you start with an individual counsellor but realize that you want to explore relationship issues later on, you probably will want a different counsellor for the couples work. You don’t want your partner to feel like you have an unfair advantage in the couples session because you knew the counsellor before your partner did.

It is even appropriate to have two individual counsellors under some circumstances. For example, if one of your counsellors works with EMDR or TER then you can often have a fairly clean separation between what the two counsellors are doing for you and what topics you are addressing with each of them.

04/04/2025

How much do you need to share about yourself with the counsellor right away in order for the therapy to be successful?

When you first start seeing a counsellor it may be difficult to trust the person enough to tell her or him about all of your private history or challenges. That’s natural. Being in counselling is a vulnerable situation. It takes time to feel confident that your counsellor will not judge or misjudge you. It is okay to share at the rate that works for you.

However, be aware that keeping secrets is different than maintaining privacy until you have deemed the situation to be safe enough for you. Keeping secrets defeats the purpose of counselling. How can you get the help you need if you don’t tell the counsellor what the real problems are or how bad they have become?

04/03/2025

Master Mantak Chia and I have written a second book together. It is called The Tao of Addiction and Recovery. It describes the benefits of integrating Taoism and Taoist Chi Kung into residential treatment programs. The book will be available to the public November 11, 2025. It is available for pre-order now. Click on the links below to pre-order it.

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A Taoist guide to recovering from addiction• Systematically explains the nature and development of addictions, the process of recovery, and how the...

04/02/2025

Should you see a counsellor in person or online?

There a a number of factors to consider when you answer that question. When you meet with a counsellor in person, the likelihood that the counsellor will recognize how you are feeling tends to be higher, which often leads to more helpful responses from him or her. Also, sometimes it helps with perspective to get out of your usual environments and go to the counsellor’s office.

Online sessions can be more convenient. They are often easier to attend because you don’t need to travel to the counsellor. It can feel less vulnerable to attend a session when the counsellor is not in the room with you, too.

Whichever way you choose to meet a counsellor, commit to being as open and honest as possible. That will likely affect how much you like the session results as whether you attended it in person or not.

04/02/2025

How do you know which treatment approaches will work best for your challenges?

There are hundreds of officially recognized approaches to counselling. There are so many techniques and strategies, too. Some research suggests that they all work equally well. Some research claims that the personality of the counsellor is the most important factor. Some research says that matching the needs of the client to the right approach is crucial.

Look at the reviews that are posted online for the counsellor you are considering seeing. Do your own research into the most effective approaches for the issues you want to address. Have initial consultations with counsellors thst seem like they might be able to help you. Trust your gut. Give yourself permission to change counsellirs if it is not working out.

04/01/2025

Should your counsellor be the same gender as you?

If you are struggling to understand someone from a different gender in your life, then seeing a counsellor of a different gender might be a good idea. That person might be able to give you some perspective or insight into how people of a different gender view certain issues or situations.

If you have unresolved issues involving someone of a certain gender then you might need to consider that when you choose a counsellor. Some people choose a person that has the same gender of the person or people with whom they have issues so they can try to have a positive experience and change their bias a bit through that experience. Other people know that they will be too triggered in the sessions if they work with someone of that gender and will be unable to receive what the person is offering as a result. In that case they should probably choose someone of a different gender.

03/30/2025

How often should you meet with a counsellor?

The most common frequency, at least at first, is once a week. Once your situation seems stable enough (according to you and the counsellor) you can start experimenting with meeting less often. If your progress starts to slip you can always go back to weekly sessions for a while and then start fading out again when you decide together.

Not everyone meets weekly, though. The frequency of your sessions can be affected by many factors - finances, work schedules, work travel, illness, family obligations, or how long it takes before you have properly digested the experience from the last session and are ready for another session.

Sometimes people meet more than once per week because they are highly motivated, their situation seems urgent, or they have a chunk of time available to devote to therapy.

As the consumer, you have a right to voice your needs about how often you should meet with your counsellor.

03/29/2025

How much control should the client gave over what happens in her or his counselling sessions?

Clients have detailed knowledge of what has happened in their lives. They also have personal preferences for how they want their counsellor conducts their sessions. Clients have the right to say what they want from their counsellors. In the end of it all, the counsellor decides how the session will be conducted. Good counsellors will take their clients’ preferences into account and try to accommodate them, as long as they do not contribute to a path that leads their clients away from their goals.

03/28/2025

How many sessions with a counsellor are enough?

It depends on many factors - the issue(s) being addressed, how long the issues have been creating problems for the person, how much work has already been done on the issue in the past, the pace of the sessions, the approach(es) that the counsellor takes, how long it takes the person to feel overloaded by the work in counselling, the amount of validation and support that the person has from his or her friends and family, and the amount of motivation that the person has to address the issue completely.

03/27/2025

How is Chi Kung connected to counselling? Don’t those two systems of thought clash?

Actually, no. Chi Kung is considered to be a form of what is called energy psychology. It is formally recognized as a psychological practice. Many people also classify it as a somatic practice. Therefore, it does not clash with counselling any more than the hundreds of approaches to counselling that are currently recognized clash with each other.

03/26/2025

How can you prepare yourself so you will get the most out of counselling? Here are some suggestions:

1) Practice summarizing the issues that you want to address and their histories. If you do that you will be more likely to remember to say everything that you think is important.

2) Tell yourself to be open to the suggestions and interpretations of the counsellor. You don’t have to agree with them in the end, but be aware that part of the reason you came to counselling was because your own ideas were not enough to sort everything out.

3) Speak up if you are not happy with or you are confused about what is happening in your sessions. Remember - the counsellor works for you and is supposed to be on your side. A good counsellor will be open to constructive feedback.

4) Let the counsellor know how you tend to learn best. For example, do you like having books or materials to read between sessions? Do you learn best by doing? Do you retain ideas better if they are presented visually? Do you think in terms of concepts or principles or facts?