The Beginning

Several highly-unscientific-probably-very-biased Google searches revealed to me that there are roughly 10 million, or around 4% of Americans in some kind of therapy.  This really doesn't mean much when you take into count the economic crisis, unemployment rate, drugs, mental illnesses, and other miscellaneous factors.  It doesn't take into count how long they have been in therapy.  Are they a returning customer or was it just a free session they won at a bingo tournament?

The truth is, we don't really know, right?  We can guess, but the bottom line is:  A lot of people are in therapy.  Duh.  Thanks for the newsflash.

I won't go into the whole thing in this post, but in short, around October 2008, I realized I was in trouble.  I was in college at the time and I went to the student affairs office and asked to talk to one of the counselors.  It was free to students so I made an appointment and within a couple of days, I found myself in her office.

The first thing I did was to take an evaluation, which was a scantron-looking test that asked questions like "I hate myself" and you had to color in one of the circles to indicate how true or untrue that statement was.

Um.

I can't say she didn't help me, because she did.  I went back every week from October to December.  Before Christmas break, she told me she thought I'd make a lot of progress and that it was up to me if I wanted to make more appointments.

I didn't.

Because I realized something.  I just wanted to talk to someone.  I was having school overload, friend troubles, boy issues, family crap, and a host of other things in life that were stressing me out and all I wanted was someone to listen while I talked about it.

And that is where this idea came from.  Therapy for Free.

For obvious legal reasons I have to state the fact that I am NOT a licensed (or unlicensed, come to think about it) doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, or counselor.  I can't diagnose or cure anything.  If you have a medical issue, it would be best to find a professional, because no matter how much I'd want to help you, I am NOT a doctor, no matter how many episodes of Scrubs I've watched.  Good show.  Anyways.

Therapy For Free

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Somebody piss you off and you want to blow off some steam?  Lemmie know.

Want to rant about something that is bothering you?  Lemmie know.

Something or somebody make you cry?

Boy troubles?

Girl troubles?

Friend troubles?

Parent troubles?

School overwhelming you?

Bored and just want to talk about something?

Just feel alone?  Lemmie know!

The point is not whether or not you think it's important.  If you're feeling it, it's important to you.  And if it's important to you, I want to know.  Honestly.

I had stuff to say and I couldn't always tell my friends because sometimes I just didn't want them to know.  Or maybe they were the source of the problem.  Whether or not you fix the problem is up to you, I'm just here to lend the ear you need.

If you're thinking how lame this sounds, just think about all the pages on Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, or what's that other one....oh yeah, Blogger, that host millions of people just trying to get their say out.  But we don't always know if someone is reading unless they tell us or comment or something.  And isn't it a great feeling when you know someone has read and cares?  If that's not what you are looking for, then you don't need me.  But if you want someone to just listen to you and to bounce ideas off of, or even just RANT about some crap somebody pulled on you yesterday, lemmie know.  I'll answer back just as soon as I can.  And you can talk to me anytime, anywhere.  What you say stays between me and you only (unless you are, or are about to, hurt yourself or others.)

I'm just the listening ear.

So lemmie have it.  While I'm answering emails, I'l continue to post entries about stuff and maybe along the way you find something interesting or something helps you.  Who knows.  Whatever keeps us moving.  We're in this together.

Love,

Charlotte (Therapy For Free)