Counselor Disclosure

by Ivone (CI)


Counselor Disclosure

It is always you who has to decided if youwant to have self-disclosure with the client. Somecounselors prefer to relate with clients in order notto make the client feel alone. Let me explain my pointof view on this subject. I hope that I will help somenew counselors decide if they want to have self-disclosure or not. I do not have any problem about relating withsomeone or telling my life story. Ten years ago whenI was in treatment I had learned something very interesting. I was in a treatment center where I didknow all the counselors they were an addicts, so Ithought I would have a counselor realating with me allthe time; I was wrong! They never related with me,they never even told me they were addicts. Every timeI was waiting for identification their answer werealways the same, “go talk with your peers about it tohave some identification” . In my mind, at that time,I thought it was absurd, how could they not relate tome? Why did I have to go to my peers? I knew they werean addicts, because I saw them before at the meetings!It didn’t make any sense to me at that time. There were times when I didn’t want my peersknow what was going on with, and even when I couldn’tmake my counselor to relate to me, I had to share thatin group. I remember how freighted that was to sharewith others things I didn’t want them to know aboutme. It was horrible, the feeling of emptiness after anindividual session, when I felt so vulnerable andalone. I left feeling I was the only one. Thosefeelings of be the only one were so uncomfortable thatit made me go to my peers and talk about the therapysensation. I wanted someone to relate with me, I didn’t wantto feel that uncomfortable feeling of being the onlyone. After a few years in recovery I came to understand why it happened like that, why they neverever related to me. I realized they were giving me themost powerful tool in the whole treatment! They weretraining me to learn how to ask for help. They wereteaching me how to depend of my peers and not them. The truth is when someone leaves treatment theycan no longer depend of their counselors. They have to depend of their sponsors, and NA\AA members. Sharingat the meeting with people we barley know is part ofthe recovery. When I found out the counselors wouldn'trelate to me I had to have the courage to share withothers where I was at that time in my recovery, I hadto share my secrets with others in order to getidentification. That experience made me able to start asking forhelp. As a result of that once I got to the meetingsit was more easy for me to share, ask for help, and totell my sponsor everything about me.

Thank you all for reading my story.

Contact : ivonejft@yahoo.com