Services  
Counseling Services  

Counseling Services are provided through CONCERN's Greater Berks, Lehigh Valley, Northeast, Southeast, and Susquehanna Valley offices.

“Getting help is a sign of strength and courage.”

When can counseling help?

When your problems are personal, or involve your marriage or family, counseling is a sensible way to start working them out. Some examples are: when you cannot work out a conflict with your partner or you want to improve your relationship, when you find it difficult to talk with your children or get them to listen, or when there is a conflict among the whole family. Maybe you want to find ways of handling situations or people differently, or build your self-confidence.

What does counseling accomplish?

Counseling is more than listening and giving advice. Counseling is a two-way process between you and your counselor to bring about the changes you want in your life.

In the beginning, your counselor will need to understand your present situation, the difficulties you are faced with, how these affect you and the approaches you have tried before. The counselor may need to gather other background information. You and your counselor will decide what problem(s) you will work on and together set goals that are realistic and achievable.

Once you both agree on a set of goals, the two of you will develop a plan for you to work with to reach these goals. It will be a step-by-step process in which it may be necessary for you to try new ways to solve your difficulties. While you are the one who will do the work in the areas you wish to change, your counselor will support you each step of the way. It will be reassuring to know that you are not alone.

Counseling is work!

Client’s Role

You gain the most from counseling when you:

• Recognize that talking about your problems, your feelings, and your thoughts is important.

• Share your hopes with regard to counseling.

• Are willing to come regularly for your counseling.

• Understand that bringing about a change requires work on your part, and will take time.

• Are prepared to take responsibility for trying out new ideas discussed during counseling.

• Raise any concerns or dissatisfactions about the way things are going with your counselors.

Counselor’s Role

The counselor has extensive professional knowledge and skills to help you to:

• Understand your problem(s) from a wider point of view.

• Identify alternative courses of action, and help you to understand the possible results of those actions.

• Find a sense of direction, and support you through the work you undertake.

• Encourage you in making decisions and in supporting you while you carry them out.

What services are available?

CONCERN provides confidential counseling services on a wide range of issues that arise in the day-to-day problems of living. Some of the types of help are:

• individual counseling
• family counseling
• marital counseling
• group counseling
• psychological evaluations
• psychiatric evaluations
• drug and alcohol evaluations
• special services for abused children, including expressive art therapies
• pre and post adoptive counseling
• Employee Assistance Programs
• workshops, seminars, and presentations

Click here for a printable Counseling Services brochure

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