Counselling

 Overview

Everyone has felt under the weather or depressed at some time in their lives. Times when we say “I just can’t cope” or “I don’t know who to turn to”. Even though we may recognise that it is quite normal to go through difficult periods in our lives, many of us don’t want to burden someone else with our problems.

Friends and colleagues can be supportive in times of need, but they may have problems of their own or not have the time and objectivity to listen without getting upset or involved. Or we may feel unable to share really intimate issues with them. It’s at difficult, painful times like these when it can be helpful to talk things over in confidence with an understanding and objective outsider

A Counsellor or psychotherapist is trained to listen attentively while you talk through your problems and to help you through your bad patch. They help you to find your own answers to your issues by encouraging you to see the bigger picture. And you don’t need to worry about overburdening them, their job is to listen, prompt and help you develop new coping skills to deal with the issues you are facing now and may face in the future.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life seek help from a Counsellor or Psychotherapist at some time in their lives. They may be struggling at work, grieving over a loved one, encountering relationship problems, facing the fear of losing a job or worrying about coping with a new one, feeling stressed, anxious about workloads or simply feeling depressed for no obvious reason.

What is Counselling?

 Counselling involves the helping skills of caring, listening and questioning. It is based on talking and prompting. It can be summarised as:-

“The task of counselling is to give the individual an opportunity to explore, discover and clarify ways of living more satisfyingly and resourcefully”

Counselling denotes a professional relationship between a trained Counsellor and a Client. A Counsellor will be supportive but give little or no advice, since the aim is to help individuals develop an insight into their own thoughts and behaviours. This is done by helping the individual draw on their own resources (often those people aren’t always aware of) and so enable them to approach life in a fresh way.

Aims of Counselling

 Some of the different aims are for example:

Insight – The acquisition of an understanding of the origins and development of emotional difficulties which can lead to an increased capacity to take rational control over feelings and actions

Self awareness – Becoming more aware of thoughts and feelings which had been blocked off or denied which can develop a more accurate sense of how self is perceived by others

Self acceptance – the development of a positive attitude towards self, marked by an ability to acknowledge areas of experience which had been the subject of self criticism and rejection

Self Actualisation – helping individual to fulfil their potential

Problem Solving – helping individuals to not only solve what is bothering them at resent but develop techniques to problem solve in the future

Develop Social Skills – helping individuals master social and interpersonal skills such as speaking up for themselves, increased eye contact, taking turns in conversations or anger control

Dealing with loss – helping individuals to deal with grief and bereavement ,be that the loss of a loved one, job, promotion opportunity or any other situation where an individual is experiencing pain or overwhelming emotions

Behaviour changes – helping individuals modify or replace behaviours that are self destructive to themselves and others around them

The list is endless and each person is dealt with as a unique individual with their own particular needs.

The sessions

 Counselling sessions usually last one hour and take place once a week over a period of time, depending on how many sessions are agreed between the individual and the Counsellor

Our Counsellors

 All our Counsellors are highly qualified and in supervised practice. As well as general issues, we can source specialised Counsellors for specific needs i.e. Drug and alcohol, gambling, bereavement, relationship breakdowns etc.