Seeking out help and the stigma that comes along with it is finally diminishing, and how could it not? With a whole generation reclaiming therapy as a helpful process, people are getting louder and prouder about finding professional help for tough times. What does this mean for us, the rising generation?

The first time I walked into my school’s counseling services, I was distraught. I felt disappointed, betrayed, overwhelmed, and honestly confused. 

That’s right folks, I had been broken up with. 

Specifically, I had been broken up with during my first week of college, over 3,000 miles from home, removed from all my typical safety nets (family, friends, familiar environments, you name it!). When I walked in for my first appointment, I felt collected and ready to talk. My therapist was a woman, but I can’t recall anything else about her.  

She listened to me, and I remember thinking, “Wow, I’m so dramatic. I’m in a therapist’s office for a breakup with someone who won’t even matter in a month.” 

At the end of our session, she told me I was handling the hurt well. I was shocked. I wasn’t ready to hear someone validate me.

The second time I found myself in a therapist’s office was the next semester. I had given up all meat, which left me with few eating options given my meal plan on campus. I went in because I was having trouble concentrating and difficulty sleeping. I saw a different therapist, whose first question to me was if I had eaten lately. I tried to recall my last meal, and then realized I hadn’t eaten in over a day. 

I know it sounds weird to need a professional reminder to do basic things like eating, but that shit is hard sometimes! 

Between my college courses, jobs, and personal life, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and I easily forget how to take care of myself.

I was at a very low point when I met my third therapist. I unearthed some trauma I had been denying, and it was a difficult thing to admit. I still see him, and together we tear apart feelings of shame I have, of not being enough or capable, and of not feeling safe. I still have work to do, but I’m learning to recognize negative self-talk and calm myself down from moments where I would’ve otherwise spiraled.

When I think about the future of therapy, I think about people feeling free to announce their upcoming therapy appointments as casually as if they were seeing a dentist. I think about accessibility. I think about therapists who look like the people who see them.

I would start by erasing the stigma that still exists. Even though I am a huge advocate of getting help, I had some reservations about having my name on an article that admits I see a therapist. I wondered what would happen if my family, friends, or previous teachers happened to see it. Many people who grew up watching therapy be the object of ridicule share similar shame in needing therapy.

I would then make therapy something anyone could access. Online therapy, for example, allows people to communicate with a professional from the comfort of their own homes, requiring only access to the internet. Most of us only see a therapist when we’re on campus, and even then find ourselves restricted by bureaucratic red tape like a limited number of sessions available or high costs. People end up putting off therapy until they have no other options because they see it as an indulgence and not a need. Nobody should be denied medical care, including mental health care, because it is not affordable.

Finally, I would want to see more therapists who identify as minorities. They understand what it’s like to grow up in a world that wasn’t made for them, and the emotional tax that can come along with that. I see a future in which our whole generation is healing, allowing itself to be open and vulnerable. I see families going to therapy together to check in on each other in a safe place. I see couples starting therapy when they get engaged to build a healthy foundation for their life together. 

For me, therapy is a place to voice my concerns and to feel heard, where I recognize how to make better decisions for myself without sacrificing my goals and relationships. 

So, is the therapy landscape going to change with us? I think it has to. I genuinely don’t see how we would allow people to lose out on a service so crucial to our well-being for another generation. We are change-makers and world-shakers, and if anyone’s going to make therapy accessible for everyone, it’s going to be us. We will hold space for our friends to unpack their feelings while we work on ours, and come together as a stronger community.

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