Workplace mental health counselor

Workplace mental health counselors are neither chicken soup masters who only advise you to "think better", nor psychiatrists who only treat "mental illness". They are professional consultants who can help you break down your emotional difficulties in the workplace and clarify the logic of career choices. You can talk to them about 90% of the troubles in the workplace that make you panic.

Let me tell you about the case I just took last week and you will understand. Lin Lin, a 32-year-old Internet operator, had to sit in the company garage for 20 minutes before going to work every day for three months in a row before he dared to go upstairs. He walked to the HR door three times to ask for resignation before coming to see me, and then walked back abruptly, saying "I just have poor stress tolerance, and I can't handle this pressure." I didn't say anything else during the first consultation. I first asked her to make a list of her overtime work in the past month. It was calculated that 80% of her overtime work was wiping the butts of colleagues across departments. She didn't even say a word of rejection.

When encountering this kind of situation, counselors with different orientations deal with it in quite different ways. A counselor with a background in psychoanalysis will follow her "dare to say no" behavior and dig deeper. There is a high probability that she will be able to uncover her childhood experience of "only good children can be praised" and help her connect the old pattern of "pleasing others" with her current workplace dilemma. ； Counselors from the cognitive-behavioral school are more pragmatic. After the first consultation, they can give her 3 rejection techniques that can be directly applied. They will first cut off the invalid overtime and then talk about it. ； If you meet someone with an existential orientation, you may first bypass the issue of overtime and chat with her for half an hour, "Did you choose the operation position to satisfy your desire for expression, or to join in the excitement of a 'high-paying industry' in the eyes of your parents?" There is no absolutely right way, it just depends on whether you prefer "finding the root cause first" or "solving the problem first".

Oh, by the way, confidentiality is everyone's biggest concern.

I have been in this industry for almost 6 years. Every time I receive visitors who are referred by the company's EAP (Employee Assistance Program), the first question is basically "Will you tell HR about what I said to the boss?" ”Let me make it clear objectively here: If you are an EAP consultant paid by the company, according to industry regulations, only situations involving self-injury, suicide, illegal crimes will be reported according to the process. Ordinary emotional complaints, dissatisfaction with the management system, or even your secretly submitting a resume to prepare for a job change will never be disclosed to a third party. ； If you really mind, find an external paid consultant yourself, and sign a stricter confidentiality agreement. Even if your lover comes to ask, we won't say a word.

Many people have a big misunderstanding about our industry, thinking that "seeking psychological counseling means I am mentally ill." Last time, there was a ToB salesman who wore a hat and mask tightly when he entered the consulting room. He was afraid of being recognized by his colleagues in the same campus. His first words were, "Let me make it clear first, I am not sick. I just couldn't place orders in the past three months. My wife forced me to come." I'm used to it. Now, 80% of the people who come for consultation are not at the level of psychological diagnosis. They are just stuck there - for example, they don't know how to communicate with weird subordinates, don't know whether to transfer to a management position at the age of 35, or even struggle with whether to fall in love with colleagues in the same department. They all come here to talk. To put it bluntly, we are a bit like "bomb disposal experts" in the workplace. You don't know which thread on your body is wrapped wrongly, and it will explode as soon as you touch it. We help you peel off the emotions, prejudices, and other people's expectations layer by layer. In the end, you will know whether to cut the red thread or the blue thread.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we are omnipotent. In the past two years, there was a young man who worked on algorithms. We talked back and forth five times to figure out whether he should quit the gap for a year. We explained clearly how long his savings would be enough to last him, his plans for the gap period, and the situation of the job market after he came back. In the end, he decided to quit. After the third month, he regretted the gap. He came back to me and complained, "Why didn't you stop me then?" I'm also quite helpless. The consultant doesn't have the right to make decisions for you. I can't hold your hand and prevent you from signing when you want to sign your resignation, right? You still have to walk the road on your own. We are just helping you to expose the facts hidden under your emotions. Don't let you take the wrong path wrapped up in the thought of "I am a waste".

If you always feel that your chest is congested at work recently, or you can't help but want to cry when you sit at your work station, or you just don't want to do anything every day, don't be too busy scolding yourself for being "too fragile" and "poor in the ability to withstand stress." Talk to a reliable workplace psychologist for an hour, which may be more effective than three months on your own. Really, working is tiring enough, stop competing with yourself.