We all, by our very nature as human beings, possess wisdom within us. This wisdom is sometimes difficult to access though, due to many causes in our lives, not all of which are the results of our choices. Luckily, we also have responsibility, literally the ability to respond to needs, so we are capable of accessing that wisdom. Often, the most responsible thing we can do is to reach out for help,
help in learning how to access wisdom. Psychotherapy is a process aimed at helping individuals improve their lives through clarifying and evaluating their own thinking and acting, in order to connect with wisdom, make more effective choices to improve their satisfaction of needs, their relationships with important people in their lives, in short, to create the kind of life they really want. Sometimes this involves addressing trauma memory, which is a specific area of focus in treatment that requires postgraduate training. Often, no significant trauma is involved. In either case, much of the misery or dissatisfaction we experience in life can be understood in terms of skills deficits; we simply haven't learned how to do what we really want to do...yet. The good news is that there are a variety of solutions for any given problem, we just have to learn what will be truly effective. States license professional counselors after they have attained the necessary education, demonstrated their knowledge through certification exams, and have engaged in thousands of hours of providing counseling under supervision of a state-authorized supervising professional counselor.