Often when a person enters therapy they are feeling overwhelmed by the stressors of their life. This crisis or stressor presents an opportunity for changes which are beneficial to the person’s overall ability to cope effectively. During a period of crisis a person’s normal defenses are down and emotional distress is high. The person feels an urgency to decrease the level of emotional distress. Because they are motivated toward alleviating emotional distress they are open to new ways of thinking and behaving.

Some people have little awareness of the role that negative stress or too much stress plays in the complaints and physical ailments that they are reporting which are reactions to the pressures and circumstances in their lives. The body generally offers several opportunities for the person to intervene in some method to decrease distress. If ignored these signals often lead to emotional problems and physical ailments.
Change is stressful, even when it is beneficial. Change requires effort and conscious awareness. In preparing to engage someone in the process of change, it is important to understand how they normally interact with their environment.  In individual counseling , a stress assessment is completed which includes a review of life events occurring in the last year, personality characteristics, and a review of significant historical life stressors which have not been resolved and/or have contributed to how the person currently copes. Life stressors include but are not limited to: divorce, chronic illness, sickness and death of a love one, major life transitions, difficulties at work, relationship issues, and chronic feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.

The responses to stress are numerous, and so are the approaches for dealing with it. What works for one person many not work for another, therefore it is necessary to be prepared with number strategies for handling stress.

The mind plays a powerful role in the way we handle stress.  A goal of individual counseling is to assist clients in understanding how to develop coping strategies  and taking responsibility for their thoughts and behaviors.  In order for individual counseling to be successful, the person must be open to the possibility of change and be willing to work towards developing the skills necessary for change to occur.