Can my Therapist Give me Advice?

A common misconception about counseling is that your counselor can provide you with advice on how to proceed in whatever struggle you are experiencing. To be clear, a therapist’s job is not to give advice – it is outside our scope of practice to tell you what to do. For me, this is important to be up-front about because ultimately I work from a place of trusting that you are the expert on your experience and for me to tell you what to do while only knowing some parts of your story would be unethical - your therapist can never truly understand what you have been through as they don’t have your history, your experiences, and your emotional reactions. 

So, what can your therapist do to help you make a difficult decision? They can understand where you are coming from; help you explore what is at stake if you decide one way or another. They may bring up a perspective you haven’t considered yet or brainstorm a compromise that might appeal to you. They can help you process what the repercussions are for making one decision or another, and help you understand what feels right to you, and why. 

Counseling is a great place to explore what you need from yourself and others, especially when it comes to making possibly life-changing decisions, and ultimately, my goal is to help you trust yourself a bit more while also navigating what others’ reactions may be to a big change in your life. Whether we like it or not, people are going to have opinions about what we do. My role is to support you in what you decide while providing a perspective which is fresh and as unbiased as possible. 

What can you do if you’re going to counseling specifically for help in making a big decision? Tell that to your therapist! Let them know what your goal is – is it to make an informed decision? Make a decision that results in the most financial gain for you? Decide something that feels most comfortable for you and your partner together? Maybe it’s none of these, and at the end of the day you’re just trying to help you decide what’s best for you. And more importantly, if you don’t know how you want to approach whatever decision needs to be made, that’s okay too. A great motivator for seeking counseling is related to feeling unsure and stuck about life in general. 

Thanks for being here!

Meagan

Disclaimer: This blog is for informational and educational purposes, and is not to be used as a substitute for a therapeutic relationship, individualized mental healthcare, or medical healthcare.