Even despite the fact that we live in an age of acceptance when it comes to mental health issues, most people are only ready to see professional assistance as an option for other people.
They can’t imagine utilizing the services of a therapist or social worker for dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, or even family issues.
The white-knuckle approach is, in some ways, easier. No, it doesn’t provide much relief, but it at least allows you to avoid confronting your issues. It’s also free—something that most mainstream mental health services cannot say.
But if you want to live a healthy, balanced life, you need to take the steps required to facilitate it.
In this article, we look at how social work and other mental health services can help you improve both your family life and enhance your overall emotional well-being.
How Do You Know When You Need Extra Help?
The answer to that is nuanced, in that every family will have a different threshold for when they can handle an issue by themselves versus when they feel the need for professional support.
A pretty good indicator is when you’ve come to a situation where the behaviors or feelings can no longer continue in a sustainable way—and you also have no solution for resolving them on your own.
For example, a parent-child relationship that is emotionally fraught. It’s normal for moms and dads to argue with their children, of course, but when every interaction devolves into conflict, it’s not a sustainable path forward.
If you’ve tried everything you can and things haven’t gotten better, then yes, reach out for professional support. Other indicators could simply be that you don’t have any clear idea of what will relieve the situation you’re in.
You’ve thought vaguely of mindfulness tactics, deep breathing, meditation, time outside, and so on—but your experiences with X, Y, and Z haven’t improved. When you’re doing everything you can and it’s not getting the results you want, that’s when it’s time to call in the pros.
What Situations Warrant Emotional Support?
In the next few headings, we’ll take a look at a few common occurrences that justify the services of a professional.
Keep in mind, though, that you don’t necessarily need to be going through anything major to benefit from enhanced emotional support.
When you start wondering if you would benefit from the help of an emotional support professional, chances are pretty good it’s at least worth giving a try.
Recent Trauma
Traumatic events that impact you or your entire family are often a great reason to seek at least short-term emotional support. This could involve anything from a recent death in the family to instances of food or housing insecurity.
That latter point, of course, has an ironic undertone to it. Families that are experiencing trauma related to financial instability often can’t afford typical mental health support resources.
To that end, you may find better results by looking into what local clinics or even colleges offer. Some colleges that offer degrees in psychology will also provide free or low-cost mental health services to people who are willing to work with students.
Mental health services that are trauma-inspired often don’t necessarily require many follow-ups.
The key is to identify what your negative emotions are and develop coping strategies that help you deal with your feelings in a productive way.
The common association for therapeutic services is that you see your counselor often—sometimes as regularly as once a week.
This is a barrier to entry for many people because, for one thing, it requires an enormous amount of time and, for another, an incredible amount of money.
Even if your deductible is low, in the ballpark of $20, it can add up pretty quickly when you’re going all the time.
While this is certainly the reality for some mental health services, it doesn’t necessarily need to be the standard. There are many professionals who will readily recommend only one or two sessions for a person who is only seeking help with a specific issue.
Regular Fighting
Obviously, a family in constant conflict is feeling neither happy nor secure. Regular confrontations that lack direction or control are definitely an indication that your family could benefit from some form of emotional support services.
Counselors are able to help you identify where your interactions are going off the rails and what you can do to improve your outcomes over time.
It’s very uncomfortable discussing marital spats in front of another person—or negative interactions that you have with your child—but getting past that initial discomfort can open the door to life-changing improvements.
Be Part of the Change
Maybe you are reading this article not necessarily because you yourself are interested in receiving psychiatric help, but because you want to be part of making a difference in the lives of others.
A career in psychology is both rewarding and highly impactful at the community level. One of the benefits of studying psychology is that it gives you the credentials you need to enter a highly in-demand career path that pays very competitively and has multiple different career applications.
Depending on how you use your degree, you can help improve family life or even work toward influencing social justice issues through social work-related applications of psychology.
Mental health and wellness touches nearly every aspect of our personal lives and, consequently, also has a major influence on community life.
To that end, every professional practicing a psychology-related career is not only earning a living, but also playing the role of a hero in their community.
