Last Friday I talked about how so many effective counselors are using their expertise in creating on-line courses. They have to. Its like 1992 when Managed Care Insurance took over and the best counselors couldn’t compete. Unfortunately for them, online counseling was not an option and most quit for secular jobs. Today, the best counselors do have the option of online courses and they will improve them over time. But one point I want to make is that counseling will always be with us.
Will “effective” counseling always be with us? Define effective. For the person or couple who has never been to counseling, effective could be their first several sessions with a beginning or inexperienced therapist. Just to vent could be effective for them. Many vent for six months and effective could be that for them. But for a couple on the verge of divorce or a depressed patient about to commit suicide, “effective” can only be defined as one or two sessions to prevent disaster or death.
I had to create Divorce Prevention Therapy in 2018 to resolve one issue in the first session or lose that couple to a divorce attorney. Things have not gotten much better since. During Covid those couples wanting a divorce pulled together during that crisis, but as the crisis lifted they poured into divorce courts. The same with suicides. After the crisis they died in record numbers. This new method I use of producing two or more healing events in every session is needed as those on the brink of divorce will panic and call a divorce attorney if I don’t. These two methods have been “effective” in saving marriages from divorce.
I cannot conceive that they will not always be around and people will pay $190+ a session because their love is precious to them. But most counseling is not so critical or precious and those are the methods slowly dying. Some psychological testing is necessary as are interventions by psychiatrists and people will always pay those high fees. These procedures are not in question. But the human touch will always be necessary. Its just a question of how much clients are willing or able to pay.
One thing that needs to be said before closing is that people always go for cheap! Its just human nature. Americans shop by price. When I developed the Divorce Prevention Therapy people would call on the brink of divorce, find out my price, and then go for the cheapest counseling they could get. It didn’t matter what they got with me that was so much better, all they wanted was the cheapest therapy possible. And they got what they paid for. This is, I believe, the main motivation for investor-based counseling companies. They bet that people would choose counseling that gave them a session and all the texts, emails and phone calls they wanted. This is killing the value of counseling.
Lane A Stokes, LPC CounselingServicesAtlanta.com 404-487-1956
Thank you for your continued referrals to me in this time of transition. Having couples know about this method of producing two or more healing events in every session is important during these post-Covid times when so many are confused about values.
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