You’re thinking about seeing someone about that problem you have. You feel stuck or trapped and as if you are never going to see the light of day again. You leave the house hoping to escape the pain, but it follows you. You hide behind a fake smile, hoping the truth never bleeds through, but you feel exposed as if there is no hiding the truth. You came here looking for answers, but you didn’t know where to start.

You’ve heard all of the jokes and maybe even told a few of them yourself. You do everything you can think of to help the people around you, but you feel like you are the one who is going “nuts” or “crazy.” You are desperate for help, maybe you’ve even figured out that you are making the people around you sick, too. You just don’t know what to believe or where to go for help. These blog posts are for you. This installment is about the myths that keep people from getting the help they need. You can dive in with me and consider some of the things people say about counseling and therapy that are just not true.

** Only weak people need a counselor or therapist: ** Everyone needs someone. The Bible tells us over and over again to seek wise counsel and to confess our sins to one another. We are told in the Bible to share our burdens to carry one another’s burdens. You will be hard-pressed to find even the worst critic of the Bible who will tell you that you don’t need anyone and that you can manage life on your own. We just know we need each other. We also need someone who can help us experience and heal from our emotions, as well as help us set our emotions aside and make good decisions about our lives and the lives of those we love. The truth is strong people seek wise counsel and the wisdom of the deep dive of therapy. Strong people are much like the best athletes, showing up to practice, working to perfect their craft, hoping and wanting to be the Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning, Simone Biles, or Caitlyn Clark, not of their sport but of their lives. You’re not looking to have your name in lights or to be a household name. Strong people want to be the ones leading the people they love to the healthiest life possible. The truth is only strong people can handle a counselor or a therapist.
**It’s all your Parents’ fault. ** How many times have you found yourself in a conversation with someone explaining the mistakes your parents made and how it has destroyed your life? While everyone struggles with generational patterns of behavior, you are your own person, and you get to decide how you respond to the mistakes of the people around you. Counselors look at the here and now and work to help you change negative behavior patterns. Therapists dive deep into the roots of the source of those negative patterns of behavior and help you change your response to those events. The only person who is responsible for your behavior is you. The only person who is responsible for your emotions is you. The only person responsible for your spirit and body is you. Yes, there is a theme. Children do not get a choice about their environment, and many childhood environments make the word toxic sound healthy. This grieves my heart, and to negate the horrible consequences of abuse is not the goal here. That being said, as one grows to adulthood, there is more and more freedom of choice about your environment and how you respond. Recently, a teenager told me that he translates “do your best” from his parents to mean “be perfect.” He has made a choice, and his failure to achieve his goal of perfection is creating terrible anxiety. His parents know he can’t be perfect and have introduced him to the God of forgiveness and grace, Jesus. He is reluctant to recognize that no one is perfect and that He, too, needs grace. That is not his parent’s fault. You get to decide how hard you want to work to live the best life you can.

** Therapy and Counseling take forever. ** You can spend forever in therapy, but you don’t have to. Most people spend about twelve to eighteen months in weekly therapy. Approximately ten percent of those in therapy remain lifelong and struggle with some serious mental health issues, or they just like the attention they get in therapy. There is a treatment model called Accelerated Resolution Therapy, and those therapists don’t even have to know your story. This model is extremely effective, and most people can achieve their treatment goals within five to ten sessions. The Lion’s Lamb Family Therapy, LLC has a preference for this model.
** Therapists and counselors just listen. ** Therapists and counselors learn a technique called active listening. The purpose of active listening is to hear you well beyond your words. We listen to your heart to hear your emotions and to hear what you don’t say. We are looking for the missing pieces of the puzzle. We help you see those missing and broken pieces so you can put them together very, possibly for the first time in your life. Therapists and counselors who use a treatment model called Accelerated Resolution Therapy find ourselves in the unique position of not having to listen to every gory detail of the story. We can and we will, but you don’t have to tell it if you don’t want to. Accelerated Resolution Therapy allows you to heal without ever offering the details of your problem. Your therapist or counselor just needs to know if your body feels positive, neutral, or negative. The process is more effective if you are willing to share some basic details, but those details are not absolutely necessary. The Lion’s Lamb Family Therapy, LLC uses Accelerated Resolution Therapy as a primary treatment model. **

** Therapists and counselors give advice. ** You may think you will see someone, and they will just tell you what to do. Neither therapy nor counseling works that way. No one has a better perspective on the details of your life than you. Your therapist or counselor can hear you, understand you, empathize with you, and help you consider all of your options. You are the only one who can make the best decisions for your life. You may have an extremely difficult decision to make and want someone to tell you what to do. Even if someone does that to you, ultimately, the only person responsible for the things you do is you. You may feel as if you live in a world that wants to make your decisions for you or that scripts what you should do. There are healthy behaviors that just make sense for human existence, no matter what you believe about right and wrong. However, the only one who can decide what is best for you is you. Sometimes, a therapist or counselor may tell you to do something, such as journaling or spending time alone. The goal is for you to get to a place where you can make the best decisions for yourself.
** Therapy or counseling is expensive. ** When considering the cost of therapy, you also need to consider the benefits. Over the last few years here in our little corner of East Tennessee, people have been cold calling homeowners and offering to buy their homes. One of those calls came yesterday. The caller promised to call back today with an offer. I am not waiting by my phone I am out of phone range altogether. The reason is that he will not pay what my home is worth to me. The question is, what is genuine healing worth to you? Many people spend tens of thousands of dollars getting the wrong treatment. You don’t have to do that. The upfront cost for ten sessions of Accelerated Resolution Therapy from The Lion’s Lamb Family Therapy, LLC, at the writing of this blog, is $1750.00. Would you trade $1750.00 or less to find relief, to see the light again? You can get the relief you are looking for within ten sessions. There are three criteria. You need to be able to move your eyes from side to side. You need to be able to hold a thought, and if you are reading this, you can hold a thought. The last criterion is you need to want to change. Motivation is the key to success with any therapy, but especially Accelerated Resolution Therapy. Some people choose to alternate talk therapy sessions with Accelerated Resolution Therapy sessions, you will need to plan for fifteen to twenty sessions, and mixing the treatments is a good thing. You can get help, you can make a permanent change, and it does not have to break you.
** All therapists and counselors are the same. ** This just is not true. Every counselor and every therapist is unique. Your relationship with your therapist or counselor is the most important factor for your success. You cannot make progress with someone you don’t like. You cannot make progress with someone who makes you feel judged or inferior in some way. You need to find a well-qualified provider who understands you and your needs.

** What your therapist believes doesn’t matter. ** Your belief about the world matters to you. Maybe you think we are all just here by happenstance, and what is right is subjective. You get to decide right and wrong for yourself, and no one else’s opinion matters. There are therapists who believe the same thing. Maybe you think there is a spiritual world where nothing is inherently good and nothing is inherently evil, and everyone needs to tap into that spirit world and “pray for ….” There are therapists who believe the same thing. Maybe you believe that there is a spiritual domain where both evil and good exist in opposition to one another, and you get to choose which one you will follow. There are therapists who believe the same thing. Maybe you believe that there is a God who loves everyone so much that He sent His only Son to pay the penalty for all of your mistakes and the mistakes of everyone else. There are therapists who believe the same thing. Each of those therapists will focus their attention on a different aspect of your problem as they actively listen to you. Some of those therapists will tell you that you should not see one of the other beliefs. The Lion’s Lamb Family Therapy, LLC does believe that there is only one God who did send His only Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for all of your mistakes as well as those of everyone else. You get to decide your direction and if what your therapist or counselor believes matters to you. The Lion’s Lamb Family Therapy, LLC believes that what your counselor or therapist believes is imperative. You get to decide your path to decreasing your pain and increasing your happiness. You get to decide the path that will lead to your healing.

You struggle with confusion and concern that you will make the wrong decision about the help that you need, but you know you need help. You know you can’t keep living the way you are living right now. The darkness is overwhelming, and that feeling that you are drowning just has to go away. You can find answers, there is hope, and it doesn’t have to take forever or cost you everything. Click the link below to schedule a free fifteen-minute consultation to see if The Lion’s Lamb Family Therapy is the best option for you.

![A FREE CONSULTATION:]
( https://calendar.app.google/zwsVG83f19QSHqvK6)