Sleep is one of the most important things we can address when you start counseling. Getting enough sleep and quality sleep is the cornerstone of mental health. Check out this article that gives you some suggestions of what to look at when you're going to sleep.

Black youth do not often make it to see a mental health provider and when they do, it may only be after they have entered into the juvenile justice system. Even when they are seen by counselors, the same behaviors in Black youth and White youth may be diagnosed differently and therefore treated differently. We must do better at recognizing our own biases, understanding systems of oppression in our society, treating our Black youth, and preventing suicide among Black children. In addition to the need for therapists to competently treat Black youth, this is a call to action for other healthcare providers, places of worship, and childcare workers to recognize the distress our Black youth are facing and to help provide them with the proper resources and care to help prevent suicide. Read the full article here.

Read the article here for more detailed info, but here's the list of 10 things.

Good therapy:
1. Is not friendship.
2. Is evidence-based.
3. Affirms the client's basic human dignity and worth.
4. Encourages and models accurate, honest, and timely feedback and communication.
5. Equals a good therapeutic alliance.
6. Encourages the client's independence and competence.
7. Considers the client's history and biography.
8. Takes into account the client's subjective experience and inner world.
9. Happens when the client does the work. 
10. Offers support, facilitates learning, and requires action.

Making the choice of who to talk to when you're feeling stressed, sad, overwhelmed, or any other feeling is difficult. Sometimes we feel like we don't want to be a burden on the people we love. Talking to a therapist is not like talking to a friend. It's helpful to hear an outsider's perspective sometimes. Someone who will listen to you, validate your emotions, and help you come to a place where you feel more satisfied or just have a greater understanding of what you have been dealing with. Click here for a wonderful, brief article that expresses these same sentiments on Psychology Today.