Counselling
Counselling is an opportunity to speak about anything that is troubling you, in a confidential and supportive setting.
The people I see come for many and varied reasons including:
– Anxiety and depression
– Loss, grief and bereavement
– Relationship issues
– Struggling to cope, feeling overwhelmed
– Self-esteem & identity
– Developing self-compassion
– Early life difficulties, trauma
– Life crisis, such as a breakdown, or an important life transition
– Exploring one’s relationship with physical illness and pain
– A desire for personal growth and a sense of wholeness
– The search for meaning and purpose in one’s life
I think it’s important to say that I don’t see the person as ‘a problem’ to solve but rather that every person is a unique individual with their own particular story and experiences.
There are good reasons for how we are, for how we coped with adversity in the past, and just making sense of such survival strategies can be liberating. Over time, life continually presents us with new situations and challenges; these can be viewed as opportunities to learn new skills and wisdom. Here, a counsellor can offer insight in an impartial and non-judgemental manner.
Sometimes we experience crisis. Although painful and frightening, once we have travelled across the abyss, we may find we have developed beautiful and valuable qualities in ourselves.
Counselling isn’t a ‘miracle cure’ for all suffering. In a stressful world, however, it offers something quite rare – the time and space to attend to what matters in our inner world.
Counselling can lead to new ways of being and expressing oneself, relating with others, understanding and navigating life experiences, discerning what we value, developing creativity, releasing grief, trauma and frozen patterns, and finding a way forward towards a more meaningful and authentic life.
My training is integrative, meaning that I draw upon various approaches and adapt these to the needs of the client. These include the humanistic approach (which is optimistic and emphasises human potential), psychodynamic (which seeks to understand and transform unconscious patterns from early life) and transpersonal (which includes a holistic and spiritual perspective on experience). My work is trauma-informed, meaning that pacing and safety are important.
Where of interest to the client, I can offer additional techniques of exploration such as artwork, visualisation and body-based approaches.
Your first session
The purpose of our first session will be to explore what brings you to counselling and how I might be able to help you. It is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions about counselling. If we are both happy to work together, we will agree a regular time (usually weekly) for your ongoing sessions.
It is well-established that the relationship between therapist and client is central to the process of change. Sharing thoughts, feelings, and most especially the vulnerable parts of ourselves requires a level of trust as well as courage. It is therefore important to find someone you feel happy to work with. Having taken into account all the relevant information, this often comes down to a matter of ‘gut feeling’.
How many sessions might be needed? There is no right or wrong answer to this question. How long you choose to take part in counselling depends on you as an individual and what you are seeking to address. When a client is unclear whether counselling can help, I may suggest committing to an initial number of sessions – usually six. This gives us time to explore what is troubling you and you can decide whether further work feels helpful.
In practice, people tend to know what is right for them, and the therapeutic process unfolds naturally. Some people gain what they need from counselling by addressing a particular difficulty, and feel able to move on with their lives. Others may feel the need or the curiosity to explore more deeply.
Prior to your first session I offer a free no-obligation 15-20 minute phone call, if you would like to find out more before booking a consultation.
Counselling and psychotherapy
There is currently no clear definition of ‘counselling’ as compared to ‘psychotherapy’. The terms tend to be used interchangeably and I have mostly used the term ‘counselling’ on this website.
A useful distinction, however, is that counselling is often short term and focuses on solutions to specific life issues or problems (for example stress, bereavement) whereas psychotherapy is longer term and seeks to gently bring awareness to deeper patterns in the psyche that shape a person’s functioning (for example, ways of responding learned from early life).
Another distinction would be concerning the training requirements. A formal psychotherapy training – such as that allowing membership of UKCP – usually takes at least four years. Counselling training is shorter and has fewer requirements.
Fees
My fee for your initial session (50-60 mins) is £65, payable in advance of the session. Subsequent 50 minute sessions are £65.