Ep 38 | Proactive Mental Health: How to Know it's Time to Seek Help

Have you ever felt overwhelmed trying to manage everything on your own and wondered if it's time to seek professional help? As a Christian trauma therapist, I've seen the transformative power of establishing a therapeutic relationship before reaching a crisis point. In this solo episode, I share my personal journey and the wisdom I've gained, urging you to be proactive about your mental health. We'll explore why waiting until you're in severe distress isn't the best approach and how building trust with a counselor can make tough times more manageable. The episode also delves into cultural perspectives on therapy, encouraging you to seek wise counsel sooner rather than later for your emotional and mental well-being.

This podcast isn't just about listening—it's about actionable steps for personal growth. I created this content with the intention of serving as a valuable resource rather than mere entertainment. I'll share my heart for practical application, and I warmly invite you to be part of this journey by suggesting topics that matter to you via direct messages on Instagram at @jemeselachel. Join me in this meaningful conversation and take the first step towards proactive mental and emotional self-care.

✨NEW HERE? ✨ Meet Jemese LaChel Drewery, LCSW, CCTP - Spirit-filled trauma expert and host of A New Creation Podcast. Through Christ-centered conversations and inspiring testimonies, Jemese guides women to healing, deeper faith, and freedom in Jesus Christ. 

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Transcript

When to Seek a Counselor

Speaker 1 0:00

Have you ever wondered how you determine when it's time to stop trying to do stuff on your own and instead hire out a professional counselor or therapist? If you've ever had those questions, you definitely don't want to miss this episode. I think the answers are actually going to surprise you. Well, hey there, welcome back to a new creation podcast where we are pointing women towards victory in Christ, one Jesus story at a time. My name is Jameis Lachelle. I am your host. I'm a Christian trauma therapist.

Speaker 1 0:38

Let's dive right in to today's episode. Well, hey there, welcome back. So we're doing something a little different. It's nothing that we haven't seen or done here before on the podcast, but this is just a solo episode of me just yapping at you. A little bit more than that, I hope, but I want to share about this subject.

Speaker 1 0:56

So recently I was invited to share my insight and expertise on my church podcast. You can go look it up. Shout out to the revolution. You can go search out the revolution podcast, and we did just a conversation about the intersection of faith and mental health. And there is a specific question that I was asked that I cannot let go. It's like the Lord will not let me turn loose this question. I'm like man, I really need to expound on that.

Speaker 1 1:28

And so today, as you can see judging by the title of the episode, actually we clicked on. We're talking about how to know when it's time to seek out a counselor. And one second, because I am literally just recording this on the fly, let me turn off my noisemakers. Okay, my doorbell's going off. Yeah, how do you know when it's time to seek help? How do you know when you need to reach out and hire a counselor? How do you even know that it's time to do that? Let's talk about it, but before we do, can we pray really quick? Heavenly Father, we thank you for another opportunity to meet. We thank you for another opportunity to pray. God, I ask that you would bless myself, bless the listener, bless their ears, lord Jesus, and just let your will be done in this episode. I just pray that in Jesus' blessed name. Amen.

Speaker 1 2:21

For most people, if they answer this question, how do you know when it's time to go and hire a professional therapist or professional counselor? It's really going to depend on your own specific worldview, because some cultures are such that we just don't share our dirty laundry, we just don't talk about it, and sadly, that is the reason why so many of us need therapy today, because generation after generation has kind of perpetuated this silence. It's not healthy. So there's that camp and there's there's other camp where it is very culturally appropriate to seek out a therapist. I think that one of the common beliefs is that you go get a therapist, you go hire a therapist because you're having severe problems and you're not wrong.

Speaker 1 3:12

Right, if that's the case, absolutely, when you are going through something, when you are going through the storm, when you think about even the disciples on the boat right during the storm, they were really losing it and they thought they were going to die. And what did they do? They went to the Lord. I don't know that. If you, you know, read the scriptures and just fully execute the scriptures, were they going to Jesus because they wanted his counsel? Or were they going to Jesus to complain a little bit about Lord? How could you be sleeping? In any case, they knew that there was a need outside of themselves. They were in trouble, they needed something.

Speaker 1 3:47

There's those times when you're in the storm and I think that's what most people think of. They kind of wait until they're in serious trouble. They kind of wait until all the other things that they have attempted to heal the situation. Those things aren't working anymore. Sadly, sometimes it takes, you know, falling into sin. Falling into. I'm going to try to drink this away, I'm going to try to numb this away, I'm going to try to eat my feelings right, that's very overlooked. I'm going to try to shop this away when those things are no longer working.

Speaker 1 4:24

You know, I think most people might say, okay, that's a great indication that you might have a bigger problem and you need to go seek support, and that is absolutely true. But I would like to reframe our way of approaching therapy in the sense that why wait until you are in the middle of a storm? It is absolutely a thousand times better, if you will. I say that in air quotes, because anytime you go and get therapy for your problems, like you're winning already. So but if you can go and get that therapy initiated and if you can go and make that connection with a good counselor while things are actually already going well, I'd say that is actually the most ideal time, because it's so much easier to reach out for your lifeline like to reach out for help, to pick up the phone when you already have that bridge built right.

Speaker 1 5:22

I think a lot of times what ends up happening is we wait until we are in the hot seat and you're in crisis mode. But like, the thing about crises is you can quickly put out the fire, but that crisis has burnt through so much of your life. If you can initiate the wise counsel in your life, if you can initiate that relationship when things are already going well, that relationship when things are already going well, you're in so much better position because you will already have established a rapport. You will already have established, like you know, a lot of times what stops people from getting help is just the idea of it. I don't know this person or I feel very introverted and you know I don't know how to open up and you kind of do this mental acrobatics thing.

Speaker 1 6:14

But by reaching out in a time where it is very low stress, things are actually going pretty good and maybe you just need somebody to help you with your perspective. You need somebody who is coming from a biblical counseling stance, from somebody who is going to help you stay grounded in the word. You need somebody to mentor, disciple you. You're looking for something like that that's going to be so significant for you. So hear what I'm saying. However you get there, it's good. However you get there, it's good. But I want you to kind of imagine what it would be like to reframe that thinking, you know, like, why wait until you're in a crisis mode? I think that it's just a lot, it's a wisdom to know for, in a practical sense, some things that you might want to go ahead and do is begin looking, even right now, you know, looking in your area for who is out there.

Speaker 1 7:11

I had no idea. When the Lord sent me into the marketplace to, he said you know, looking in your area for who is out there, I had no idea. When the Lord sent me into the marketplace to, he said. He said he was very specific with me. He said you go and market yourself as a spirit-filled, spirit-led trauma therapist, a Christian trauma therapist. You go out there and be bold about it, that you are a spirit-filled, spirit-led Christian trauma therapist. And he was also very bold about the fact that in my marketing that I need to really use a lot of images that represent the people very diverse. He wanted me to do that. I had no idea why. I just said, yes, lord, and come to find out that, as I launched out there in my community and in my state, even there's just not a lot of African-American, black Christian counselors. I was shocked. Women, you know, there's just not a lot.

Speaker 1 8:06

And so one thing that I hear people say along the subject is I hear ladies tell me like you know, oh, I was looking and I was searching and I was just so glad to find you, jimmy, and that's so cool to hear and it just has me, I don't know, just encouraging you today to go and do the same thing, go and do the research. Like you may not be necessarily needing to feel like you got to speak with a therapist who necessarily looks like you Like sometimes that doesn't actually matter but it's so wise of you to just kind of survey the land and see who's out there. Okay, are there even counselors who align with my beliefs out there? You don't want to wait until you're in a crisis moment and then end up like sitting in front of anybody, because, honestly, for Christians it can be. I'm not saying that if you go to a secular therapist that you won't get the help. I will be the first to raise my hand that I have seen several therapists who do not identify themselves as Christian. They are secular and they have helped me reach so much healing, so much healing that just absolutely would not have been possible had I not gone that route. But I will definitely tell you that, as a believer, you will only ever reach a certain level of healing if you don't add Jesus into the picture. So if that is important for you, I would encourage you to really like go and survey the land and see if you can find Christian counselors, biblical counselors in your area. I would encourage you to go to Psychology Today in your search engine and type in your zip code, type in Christian counselor, your zip code, type in biblical counselor. Just see what pops up right. You can also just go to Google and search out biblical counselors in your area, christian counselors in your area, and just you know. I just think it's so wise and it's so important.

Speaker 1 10:07

I would also encourage you to ask yourself some really good questions. Ask yourself, where am I struggling to see growth in my life? And identify that area. It could look different for everybody. For some it's going to be like I'm struggling to see growth in relationship. I just can't get out of this specific relationship and there are this specific kind of relationship. I'm struggling there. It could look different, right? That's the question to ask yourself, though, and ask the Lord really, where am I struggling to see growth in my life? I want you to ask how does getting help with this support me? How would getting help with this? How would seeking out a counselor, how could seeking out a counselor or therapist who is trained in this? How could that help me? That's question number two, and question number three is what happens if I don't get help? What would happen? And just think about those questions, journal those questions out with the Lord, and I'm sure that as you do that, you will come to your own conclusion about if now is the right time. So, to recap, we talked about how to know when it's time to get help. You can wait until you're in crisis mode, but it's so much better to go ahead and get that line of support established when things are already going well. So I encourage you to go and survey the land, see what's available in your area. And so cool, because so much is virtual nowadays. At this time, my practice is only virtual that's expanding very soon locally, but there's so much that you can access literally from your smartphone. So survey the land, then ask yourself these questions, really reflect on that. And if you're like me and you want scripture, I kind of saved the best for last.

Speaker 1 12:14

I probably should have started with this, but I want you to go look at Exodus 18. So this is for people who are like I don't know, is it biblical to get a counselor? Is it even biblical? Some people believe this, but it's not. I want you to go look at Exodus, chapter 18, when Moses was in trouble. And what does he do? He receives counsel from his father-in-law from his father-in-law. It is scriptural, it is wisdom to seek out counseling. I want you to read about how Moses literally got advice from Jethro. Jethro. His father-in-law was straight up like listen, this is not good what you are doing. We need someone who can speak to us like this. Sometimes. We just need that, because the Lord already knows that at many times we're not able to see ourselves very clearly, and so he will send someone to us to speak the truth and love. So I pray that this blesses you. If you already know in some way that you need support and then you live in the state of Missouri, reach out to me. You can go to graceabidesco, but it's even better if you just slide through my DMs. My Instagram handle is at jimmyslachelle. I'll put all of that in the show notes.

Speaker 1 13:35

I want to pray for you before we wrap up, so let's do that now. Heavenly Father, we just bless your name. I want to pray for the one who is contemplating. If now's the time, lord, I know that you know them and that you love this person and that you speak to their hearts, and I want to ask you to speak. Speak to his heart or her heart. Whoever is listening right now, lord God, I'm praying for the masses, lord, but God is listening. Right now, lord God, I'm praying for the masses, lord, but, god, I am seeing the one and you always see the one, lord Jesus. I bless you, lord God, for this one, and I ask you to give this person the encouragement, give them a burning on the inside of their heart, lord Jesus, that they know that it is you calling out to them, saying that it is time. You said that you would never leave us or forsake us, and that means that when it is time to reach out for godly support and godly counsel, lord God, that you will do it and you will do it with them. Bless you, father, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Speaker 1 14:36

Thank you for tuning in to another episode. We are going to be doing so many more of these bite-sized, very easily actionable podcast episodes for you because I want you to not just be, you know, listening to this stuff for entertainment, but I really want you to have this as a resource to help change your life right. So if you have certain topics or anything like that that you want to hear me speak on, you can reach out to me. Um, like I said, you can come through my, my DMs, instagram at Jamice Lachelle. In the meantime, I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you until we meet again.