Rachel Sykes

I Work with Stressed Out Professional Women | Licensed in Massachusetts |

Rachel C. Sykes, LMHC, LLC
Rachel@rachelcsykes.com

I know that there are a lot of campaigns that are associated with various weeks, days, and months, with my running favorite being Discovery's Shark Week. However, my second favorite time-bound campaign is for May as Mental Health Awareness Month. However, I was surprised to learn that May has been Mental Health Awareness Month since 1949 – did you know that??? Maybe I have been living under a rock but this was news to me. It could in part be that my consumption of media has changed and that I am more personally and professionally involved in issues related to mental health. However, I imagine that it has taken a long time before this campaign has become mainstream.

Has the stigma changed?

You know what, yes, I think stigma is decreasing about mental health. I cannot point to one thing but I believe that having some famous people advocate for mental wellness and discuss their personal struggles has helped to normalize this subject. Here are some names you might recognize:

Ariana Grande

Carrie Fisher

Catherine Zeta Jones

Demi Lovato

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Glen Close

Hayden Panettiere

Justin Bieber

Kristin Bell

Michael B. Jordan

Michael Phelps

Selena Gomez Simone Biles

Zendaya

I also think that the recent covid pandemic highlighted the struggle experienced by so many and forced local and national legislators to make changes to permit receipt of counseling services via tele-health. I expect that many people would also acknowledge the impact that the pandemic has had on people’s mental health generally. Being isolated, scared, trying to learn or work from home, masking, dealing with sickness and loss, and the unknown nature of covid before any treatments were forthcoming—this stuff left a mark we are still dealing with.

Shift from mental illness to mental health

This may seem like a small point but this shift from focusing on ”illness” to a more comprehensive focus on health seems like an improvement. This does not mean that mental illness is not a real thing but perhaps the conversation seems less negative. Similarly, in my studies of counseling, I was instructed that it might be more helpful for a client to be referred to as a person with anxiety, for example, than an anxious person. The distinction here is to refer to one’s “person-ness” first, and use the anxiety term to describe something they are experiencing. This may surprise you but this small distinction can make a person feel less judged, embarrassed, deficient, and allows them to speak about themselves with greater ease. It also facilitates a constructive therapeutic dialogue to “externalize” a condition such as anxiety which lends itself to techniques designed to cope with this anxiety rather than to treat a "mentally ill" person.

My grad school experience

When I returned to graduate school to get my counseling degree, I worked on a research project to test study participants' ability to recall information provided in the counseling informed consent process. So my team and I walked our undergraduate student volunteers through the paperwork process that was designed to replicate a real counseling setting. I have to say that I was really surprised by how many of these students chose to share their personal experiences in counseling (they were not asked about this) and some actually asked for counseling support (we were ready for this and provided this information). I guess I was impressed to see that college-aged students seem less concerned about the negative perception of mental health and counseling in general.

Negative stereotypes - “When I was a kid…”

I was in therapy when I was a child and I am pretty sure that none of my friends know about it. Maybe when I was in high school, I might have told some close friends but I am not sure. I think I would have been embarrassed and felt that it separated me from my peers, and might give kids some ammunition to embarrass me. To be clear, therapy really helped me and I am glad I did it but I think it might have been easier for me if I had known how many other people were actually doing the same thing.

I have had a few teen clients (who are awesome!) who did not seem burdened by this stigma about mental illness. I can recall having some young clients telling me that all of their friends were in therapy and I felt a little bit like a fashion accessory but in a good way. This seems like a big improvement.

I work with stressed out professional women, and offer telehealth, in-person, and walk formats.

Contact me

Are you interested in seeing if I may be the right therapist for you?* I suggest you check out my website to see if you are picking up what I am putting down. You can request an appointment or call/email to ask for a free 15-minute consultation.

email: Rachel@rachelcsykes.com
phone: 617.804.6471

* I am licensed to work in Massachusetts.