Is there anyone in your life that you think would benefit from therapy?
One of the first questions a therapist will ask you is “How did you come to the decision that you wanted to see a therapist?” I have had people say “My wife thinks I should try it”. Now, sometimes they agree with said wife, and sometimes they share that they are unsure. Either way, if they walked in my door then they themselves made the decision to at least give it a shot. This means that the person who asked them to try to therapy got through to them, which is hard to do.
When someone you love is struggling with mental health issues it can be hard to watch and even harder to bring to the light. The best approach: be gentle and compassionate. There is definitely a “right place and time” aspect to this conversation. We want to have this chat privately and not during a time when either party is escalated. It is important to note that bringing this up soon after an issue arises can be crucial so you don’t have to talk about the issue in the past tense.
It would be nice if you, or someone you both know has had a positive experience with going to therapy. If that is the case, you could say something like “See how much better _____ is doing after he started seeing his therapist?” If you do not know someone personally then it is wise to look up some success stories and bring those to light during the conversation.
Going into the conversation with kind and thoughtful phrasing can make a huge difference. Destigmatizing the experience in your phrasing is imperative, because often people have misconceptions about mental health. You can expect some resistance here, and you may have to try more than once. Either way you can walk away from the conversation knowing that you have offered help in a benevolent way.