Advice from a counsellor/ therapist please

[parrotonmyshoulder]

Hi,
I’ve been having counselling for the last 18 months, which is now fortnightly. It’s going really well, I’m confident with my counsellor and have made good progress with my mental health.

I need to talk about some ongoing, long term friendship issues. However one of the friends I want to talk about sees the same counsellor. I recommended her, without thinking really, about 6 months ago.

Would it be best for me to be honest about the friend I’m talking about, or to keep it anonymous? I fear it may be obvious to the counsellor anyway.

Obviously I don’t want to share details here about the friend or then situation I want to talk about.

Thanks.

OP, you are free to talk about any and all situations in your life to your counsellor, and s/he is ethically bound to keep anything you disclose confidential (unless you state that you intend to harm yourself or another.)

You are not to be burdened with the fear that you might make things tricky for the counsellor by bringing your friendship issues to your sessions. S/he made a decision to take your friend on as a client and must accept any conflict of interests that might arise as a result. However, s/he is ethically bound to be non-judgemental and positively accepting of you and your material, so unless s/he raises the possibility of an ethical dilemma with you, as a client you must feel free to speak about your concerns and it's absolutely your choice to name the friend in question.

Your counsellor might see this development as a dilemma, in which case they would discuss it in supervision and then, depending on the advice they take, raise a concern with you. But if that does happen, the onus is on the counsellor to somehow resolve any dilemma arising and not to make it your problem in any way.