The Right Stuff

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​​​I Heal Myself, I Improve Myself

 

Now that you have discovered both the strength and willingness to explore serious personal improvements, you are well on your way to thriving in your life with some assistance. Remember that 'You' are choosing the right professional, and the right modality to heal or improve 'Yourself' whether it be physical or psychological. You are using your intellect and your will to decide if you need any kind of help in caring for yourself including medical treatment, imaging, diagnosis, a surgical procedure, a routine check-up, or in this case, counseling or consultation.

 

Providing that you are conscious and able to make decisions, realize that physicians, surgeons and other medical or health professionals like counselors always need your consent to proceed. In proceeding, we trust their educated plans for our treatment that require skills and resources beyond our own understanding. Your trust in this process comes from your intent to heal and recover or improve using the people and facilities with expertise to help you. This empowered yet willing state of choosing and asking for help is a formidable source of vitality to your continued success using professional assistance.

 

When you are looking for a professional guide there are a range of choices depending on whether your needs are time or pressure sensitive. Your issues may be about enhancing an aspect within your career or lifestyle or may be as critical as navigating a life crisis. You may have a circumstance requiring a guide who is a state certified health professional with a medical or legal practice. There may also be significant financial/legal/medical considerations of having to operate through billing insurance providers. To respect your search, below are some descriptions that may help you with finding the right kind of coaching, counseling, or consultation.

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Choosing the Right Kind and Right Person

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Once you have decided that you would like support in improving an aspect of your life it's important to know that the next step is choosing the right way and the right person to realign yourself. If this is your first time searching for a counselor, or would like to diversify your self- improvement by trying different counselors or methods, this page may help you with a better definition of these professions, or at least offer you more key thoughts to refine your search.

 

There are several major kinds of counseling that one can choose from and this article will offer brief definitions and the general capacities of each profession. If you have become aware of any serious health and wellness troubles relating to your current circumstances, then making an appointment with a primary care physician first is recommended. Their office will likely describe and refer you to the best kind of counseling, or other therapies, based on your physician's knowledge of your health history, symptoms, and needs.

 

This page is by no means a way of self-diagnosing, giving treatment, recommendation, or referral to a particular method, individual or group. It is simply a generalized description of the kinds of therapies (help), non-professional, professional, non-licensed, licensed, clinical, medical and non-medical, that may be available.

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Inspired to Counseling or Counseling Recommended

 

Sometimes a colleague, partner, friend or family member suggests that you might benefit from seeing a counselor. Many times advice like this from others may not be well received and you could experience some initial resistance to their suggestion. You can always ask them to offer specific feedback as to their experience of you or a particular behavior they have observed that led to their suggestion. It has been and will be up to you to decide whether or not their observations or judgements are reasonable or not. Chances are that if more than two or three people in your environment think that you may benefit from counseling, it is a strong possibility that working through a life adjustment with an objective professional may help you see what the people closest to you may be experiencing.

 

Even if you have just one session with a counselor in which you share what others have suggested about you benefiting from counseling, you can determine whether or not the session was of benefit enough that you would schedule another appointment or move on to another source of help. This determination may require a couple of sessions so that you can discern whether or not your perceived quality of the first session was affected by an initial state of resistance, especially if this is a first time seeing a counselor. You may find that 'counseling' can work for you, yet the 'counselor' is not a good fit. You can try another counselor or another professional method.

 

Whether or not counseling was suggested to you, or if you might believe you are getting counseling for someone else's benefit, ............You have decided to do this for You.

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Peer Counseling

 

I trust that after one has made the decision to seek counsel, they will have what it takes to find the right person for their particular trek through the landscape of a life-issue. A time restriction or monetary restriction may be impeding this choice. If so, finding someone within your social reach to talk to can be a start. Sometimes this could prove to be a respected friend or mentor that would have your confidence and have enough listening skills to ask the right questions or give good advice. Choosing someone familiar may be convenient regarding the ease of sharing your personal thoughts, feelings and actions. One should also be aware that with too much familiarity there can be less objectivity from someone close in age, relationship, or level of experience. Finding a venerated person experienced in the skills of listening, giving feedback and maintaining confidentiality can be challenging for anyone. A trustworthy confidant may also be honest enough to suggest when a particular issue demands professional counseling. Many times, a respected role model can offer feedback and just enough counsel to prompt a corrective course of action for you to take on your own. This kind of help is also affordable should there be no monetary budget for professional help, and often a returned favor or gesture to a trusted advisor can be a way to show appreciation and a value exchange.

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Peer Counseling / Support Group

 

This kind of counseling can be very effective and is generally free of charge or by donation. There are many themed support groups comprising of four to twenty people who are working through a specific challenge like: A specific addiction, anger management, depression and anxiety, loss and grief, men's issues, women's issues, terminal illness, communication, cancer survivors, couples/marriage, veteran groups, or becoming a new or single parent. You can check with your local social services, and with town halls and church facilities that are hosting any of these kinds of groups rent free in a private office or multi-use room on regular week-nights.

 

These groups are usually facilitated by one or two experienced people who maintain the rules and agreements of the group and keep the structure of the sessions relative to the common theme and goals of both the group and to each individual's process. These groups can provide a powerful synergy to each person's therapeutic educational progress as oftentimes there is a potent recognition in seeing oneself in another group member's experience. Just as your experience or realizations may be of benefit to someone else in your group.

 

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Workshops & Themed Retreats

 

There are many reputable workshops or retreats that offer an immersive educational and experiential atmosphere where you can achieve life-changing improvements in your ways of thinking or being. Often the act of traveling to these events alone and removing yourself from your familiar environment can be a significant component in taking both a figurative and real-life journey into personal growth. Once at the workshop or retreat you will meet others who are there for a similar purpose and this can be a potent experience of wellness-synergy by sharing a sense of connecting or belonging regarding our common struggles. The time frame, travel effort, and the price of the event will also intensify your willingness and intent to go to work on yourself, and to achieve results within the duration and context of your stay.

 

These events can range from large forums facilitated by certified psychologists in a large hotel conference room for three to seven days, or to small groups traveling abroad to wilderness areas visiting an indigenous medicine person for ancient wisdom. You can also ask a reputable counselor about what kind of retreat or workshop they would recommend for you. One can find a workshop or retreat offering education and experiences for almost any aspect of Human improvement.

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Rehabilitation Center or Clinic

 

This kind of therapy is usually, yet not always, for those that may be in crisis with addiction / destructive substance abuse behaviors causing loss and harm to self or others. These Centers can be accessed voluntarily or be mandated as treatment through court order or community intervention. There are 'in-patient' programs in which one lives as a resident guest/patient for extended periods of one to three months. Some people may be administered medications to alleviate severe withdrawal and other medically evaluated treatments under the direct supervision of physicians and nursing staff.

These are intensive environments with very clinical approaches involving medical staff, security, support groups, and strict daily routines all with a focus on safety in a steady climate of structured wellness distanced from day-to-day family life, job, and more critically one's dysfunctional lifestyle, home and social environment. These can be very effective facilities for intensified treatment yet expensive and are often afforded through health insurance and major financing.

There are 'out-patient' programs as well, in which one may attend 'All-Day' sessions consisting of supervision, evaluations,

counseling sessions with addiction specialists and attending support group meetings in one coordinated facility.

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Counseling

 

This is the most common kind of counseling service. Usually within easy local travel distance you may schedule hour-long visits to the office of a certified licensed psychologist. These counselors are available online as well. This is considered a clinical method of therapy in that this professional counselor has extensive training, legally maintains parameters of professional ethics including legal confidentiality and also documents/ charts for your progress and health records/history. These therapists can bill through health insurance and are moderately priced at an hourly session rate. Through their established local practice they can offer continued availability and consistency. By far your dedicated local psychologists are helping the majority of people seeking help for the most common imbalances or challenges:

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·         anxiety, depression

·         PTSD

·         learning or communication challenges

·         relationships

·         addiction

·         major career or location change

·         divorce & single parenting issues

·         loss/grief

·         anger management

·         crisis (non-life-threatening)

·         age/life changes

·         identity

·         marriage

·         family

·         sexuality

·         stress

·         critical decision making

·         emotional literacy

 

Some therapies require visits with licensed professionals; as in court ordered therapy and/or evaluations. Licensing is required for sex therapy, services covered by insurance, child psychology, psychiatry and those therapies that demand accredited and licensed professional ethics, recordkeeping and legal confidentiality. One should use great discretion when choosing between a mentor, coach, consultant, a non-accredited counselor, and a professional licensed counselor.

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Life Coach

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A life coach is a type of wellness professional who helps people make progress in their lives in order to attain greater fulfillment.

Life coaches aid their clients in improving or enhancing their relationships, careers, and day-to-day lives.

This profession does not require licensing yet usually a kind of accreditation or affiliation with an organization maintaining reputable standards.

This kind of counseling developed within the sport industry. It was forged by former champions and successful sports industry icons that were hired by sports organizations to coach athletes seeking higher levels of health, strength, competitive edges, extreme motivation, and levels of performative excellence. The corporate world has its equivalent brand of 'coaching' by retaining services of very 'success-oriented' psychologists who are specialized in motivation, goal setting and performative excellence.

Although generalized, and potentially overlapped with gradients of causality and circumstance, the kinds of therapeutic counseling and consultation required for serious and more immediate resolve differs from 'coaching' in personal development. This does not mean that a person's deeply rooted life-issues cannot be reached with prompts from coaching techniques. It does however mean that, should the client experience an intense level of emotional and psychological regressive response in a 'coaching' session,

the coach and client may end up in deep and unfamiliar waters of the psyche.

If you are stable and looking to improve your position in life, coaching can accelerate personal development and performative life-skills leading to more successful and fulfilled living.

Life Coaching has other professional yet non-licensed titles or names such as Wellness coach, facilitator, brain coach, influencer, motivator, trainer, advisor, and life strategist.

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·         Communication skills

·         Empowerment/ influence       

·         Cultural awareness

·         Goals and missions     

·         Relationship quality    

·         Prioritizing/ organizing          

·         Purpose / vocational   

·         Motivation      

·         Career enhancements    

·         Lifestyle / diet

 

 

Crisis counseling

 

If you are looking for consultation regarding critically significant and time sensitive resolutions that are of an intense situational nature, your search is most likely activated with a state of desperation. Some of these situations that occur in our lives are great impacts, sudden losses, unexpected occurrences, or an exponential degradation of our wellbeing or environment. These can be experiences that have legal implications or serious health consequences that can involve a major course change for even the healthiest of people. Crisis counseling has a broad spectrum from 'needing-swift-resolution-to-a-time -sensitive-critically-significant-issue' to a life-threatening crisis intervention involving law enforcement, medical facilities, and survivors of terror and natural disasters.

Crisis counseling is designed to give the individual stability, safety and security in the aftermath of a crisis. While other types of therapy generally don't have the same time and pressure demands, crisis counseling is generally focused on immediate support and intervention towards a stabilized sense of surviving that can then lead into thriving after the crisis has run its course. Crisis counselors are often contracted and deployed to natural disaster areas and more so to the aftermath of large-scale terror scenes. Many professional psychologists who perform well under pressure or intensity are employed by agencies in criminal justice, disaster response, medical facilities, and public schools/ colleges.

Sometimes crisis counseling involves immediate professional life-saving intervention in response to life threatening circumstances. Acts of violence or threats of violence as a victim or potential perpetrator, substance overdose or usage requiring immediate medical attention, abuse/ violence involving law enforcement or hospitalization, suicidal threats or acts, intended criminal activity, survivor terror and shock, or mental or emotional pain requiring medical treatment.

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·         Late-stage addiction

·         Domestic abuse/ violence

·         Assault /sexual assault survivor

·         Suicidal threats/acts 

·         Self-harm

·         Ordered restraint violations

·         Murder threats

·         Child neglect / abuse

·         psychosis requiring treatment

·         Natural disaster survivor

·         Mortal crime event survivor

·         PTSD intervention

 

 

Psychiatry

 

A psychiatrist is a physician specializing in medical mental treatment. This therapy includes prescribed medications, referrals to surgical specialists, medical /scientific testing and clinical recording.  Some mental and emotional disorders may require medical diagnosing and treatment by a psychiatrist in order to provide enough stability for one to go on exploring other/additional forms of counseling that can help with behavioral modifications or even full rehabilitation from the following:

 

·         Severe Anxiety and depression

·         Eating disorders

·         PTSD

·         Neuro-divergent treatments

·         Substance abuse treatment

·         Extreme sleep disorders

·         Bipolar treatment

·         Mental pain 

·         Multi personality disorder 

·         Brain chemistry disorder  

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Common Counseling Titles

 

All of the definitions and descriptions in this blog are brief, without index and will not fully describe all of the capacities of each profession nor all of their varied amounts of treatment or benefits. It is my intention to offer enough simplified information for you to choose a general direction towards one of the kinds of counseling I've described. You will then choose the right person in one of these professions by your own discernment, by recommendation, or by referral from your primary physician:

 

Therapist:   A person trained in psychological methods for helping patients with challenges regarding psychological health, emotional control, behaviors.

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Consultant:   A person who gives expert advice in a professional or business context. This can also include problem solving in situational life issues as well.

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Counselor: A therapist providing an ethical professional approach to life issues under a licensed practice as a psychologist. 'Counselor' is the title most commonly used to describe a psychologist.

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Life-Coach: A person who coaches in wellness, goal setting, problem solving, diet, sleep and exercise habits and enhancing existing performance.

 

Psychiatrist:  A physician who practices in the science and medical field of diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

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Mentor: A trusted / respected person who counsels / advises professionally based on having a significant amount of successful life or career experience.

 

 

Stone Canoe Group - Consultations with Aaron Ortega

 

The success of my clients starts with their realization and decision-making process of finding a guide to meet them on their path. Some are motivated by crisis requiring immediate solutions, and some, by experiencing discontent in their search for meaning, purpose, or something of spiritual attainment. For 35 years, all of these clients have been aware that while I am not a clinical psychologist, I consistently perform in a professional manner with each client by maintaining high ethical standards, and a transpersonal commitment to expertly guiding those who need or desire significant life improvement.

 

Clients have had success in great degrees of recovery from:

 

·         Anxiety and depression

·         Substance abuse

·         'Exit' counseling

·         PTSD

·         Loss

·         Stagnation

·         Chronic stress

·         Chronic adolescence

·         Dysfunctional relations

·         Identity crisis

·         Emotional instability

·         Post-incarceration

 

Clients have success in great degrees of achievement in:

 

·         Relationship & communication

·         Spiritual growth

·         Self-discovery & purpose

·         Parenting & child custody issues

·         Conflict resolution

·         Adulting & Eldering

·         Integrative practices

·         Self-motivation

·         Mental clarity

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Schedule your free 10-minute session to determine your next step

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