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What if I don't want to talk about something?
Therapy can feel a bit scary.
The idea of opening up and sharing personal experiences with someone who is, at least to begin with, effectively a stranger, is a big ask. And even when you've been coming to counselling for a while, there may still be things you don't want to talk about.
That's okay.
You are in charge of what you share in your therapy. You don't have to tell your counsellor something simply because they have asked about it, and you don't have to talk about an experience before you feel ready — or at all.
It can be helpful, though, to let your counsellor know that there is something you don't want to talk about.
You don't have to tell them what it is.
Sometimes we can talk around something without talking about it.
You might be able to explore what happens when you get close to the subject. What makes it difficult to
approach. What you notice in your thoughts or body. What you're worried might happen if you were to talk about it. Or what you might need in order for it to feel more manageable.
There may also be ways of exploring without relying entirely on words. An image, metaphor, object, drawing or sandtray might help you communicate something without having to tell the whole story.
And sometimes the most useful thing is simply for your counsellor to know:
There's something here. I'm not ready to go there.
We can work with that too.