April is Counseling Awareness Month #CounselorsCare

 

Dr. Michele Kerulis, LCPC, CC-AASP

The American Counseling Association (ACA), the world’s largest counseling association, is celebrating Spring 2015 by hosting Counseling Awareness Month.  ACA provides over 55,000 members and 20 divisions with resources that promote professional identity, encourage legislative actions and updates, and offers continuing education.

 The ACA Counselors Care and I am here images are sweeping the internet and are meant to spark curiosity and strengthen the message that anyone can reach out to a counselor. The hope is to decrease stigma and increase the occurrence of people reaching out for help. ACA welcomes people to share these images on their social media pages.

 

American Counseling Association 2015 #CounselorsCare

 

 

Counselors help people with long-term mental health issues and also help with developmental progressions like career exploration, processing grief, and managing transitions. The purpose of Counseling Awareness Month is to encourage people to learn about counseling, to decrease the stigma related to mental health counseling, and to recognize the great work of professional counselors.

 

American Counseling Association 2014 I am here

            





 

 

Two serious issues that counselors address are suicide and depression. These problems are seen in young childhood through late adulthood. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported almost 37,000 deaths by suicide in people age 10 and older.  There were also alarming numbers of suicides in people aged 65 and older. In addition, CDC reported that 1 in 20 people age 12 and above have experienced depression with the highest rates of depression experienced in mid-life. With numbers like this, it is likely that you have met someone or know someone who has or is currently suffering from depression. Nearly 90% of people surveyed by the CDC believed that mental health counseling can help people who suffer from mental illness live normal lives.  Reach out to your friends and family, offer support, and encourage people to call a counselor. If you are outside of the Chicagoland area, click here to find a counselor in your area.

 Another group affected by mental illness includes student-athletes. A National Collegiate Athletic Association student group stated that mental health issues among college athletes is a silent and significant problem. If left untreated, concerns can affect student-athletes’ sport performance, classroom success, and overall wellbeing. Student-athletes can seek services from counselors with specialized training, such as a Certified Consultant through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (CC-AASP). Specialized counselors can use sport psychology techniques to help athletes manage their mental health issues and can also help athletes improve performance through individualized programs.

In addition to treating mental illness, counselors excel at helping people achieve an overall sense of wellbeing. For example, counselors can help exercisers create a wellness plan to help them break through barriers like inconsistent motivation and time management. In fact, counselors can talk to people about the 13 health benefits of exercise mentioned by the Huffington Post. Counselors can also help people who have significant goals reach those goals with an accelerated sense of excellence.

Finding wellness is vital to living a balanced life. Check out Choose Wellness’s blog post about 10 Ways to Maintain Wellness for ideas on how to introduce balance and wellness into your busy schedule.

Take part in Counseling Awareness Month and spread the word about how wonderful counseling can be. Share this article with your friends – you might unknowingly save someone’s life.

 Dr. Kerulis is Past-President of the Illinois Counseling Association (2013-2014) and Director of Sport & Health Psychology at Adler University in Chicago.

 

FIND A COUSELOR:

Illinois Counseling Association

Urban Balance (Chicagoland area)

American Counseling Association

Resources:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

The Trevor Project