Herbal Health

“Counseling is not for everyone. Some don’t need it, and some don’t want it. If a person or a family doesn’t want it, then it will be of no use to them. All you can do is leave the door open for them to come back later. Another possibility is to try to connect a family with another family or a support group that may be less threatening.

“Sometimes counseling is crisis intervention; something catastrophic has happened and the individual needs to talk about it. Sometimes families just need help or further discussion in order to understand better the information the physician has given them. But sometimes intervening in those crises or rediscussing the interpretation of the information uncovers a whole can of worms. Suddenly the counselor finds other underlying stresses in the family that need to be addressed. Families who are dealing with epilepsy are just like other families with all their stresses and tensions. Epilepsy is an additional stress, one that can exacerbate and expose all of the others.

“All families need to be able to communicate, and a counselor gives both the individual and the family an opportunity to do just that. They need to talk about the epilepsy but also to talk about all of the other things which affect families, things like expectations, fears, responsibilities, restrictions, and feelings about themselves and others.

“Counseling and education should involve the child, even the child as young as five or six. It is a disservice to leave them out. Involving them early begins the process of ownership of their condition which, over the long run, is so important in helping them to cope.

“The counselor doesn’t cope for them. The child, the teenager, the adult, the family will have to cope for themselves. All I’m there to do is to be the catalyst, to give them the tools to achieve the benefits of confidence and independence.”

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