5+ Ways Counselling Can Help
What is counselling?
Counselling is a ‘talking therapy’ that enables you to discuss your thoughts and feelings in a safe, confidential space. Most people seek counselling when they are facing challenging or difficult life situations, when they want to change something in their lives, or simply to explore their thoughts and feelings in more depth.
As a counsellor I am not here to tell you what to do. Instead, I will encourage you to talk things through so that you can uncover any root causes and identify specific thoughts, feelings and patterns of behaviour. I can then help you to effect change either by helping you to reconcile your issues, or helping you to find healthy ways of coping.
I use an integrative approach which means I can tailor each counselling session to suit your individual needs. Life can be very hectic and getting to my therapy rooms may be difficult so I offer a range of formats including face-to-face, telephone and online via Skype or Zoom. If you prefer to meet in person, I offer face-to-face sessions in my therapy rooms or can provide home visits for those that find it hard to travel.
What issues can counselling help with?
Counselling can help you to explore your thoughts and feelings, as well as work on any problems or issues that you are experiencing or would like to resolve. Sometimes you may not feel comfortable talking to your family or friends about these issues, or you may just feel that you would prefer to explore them with an objective professional.
Counselling can help with a huge range of issues but is known to help with the following:
- Addiction – this may be a physical addiction to a substance or activity. Counselling can help by exploring the potential root causes of the physical addiction, relieving the psychological addiction and helping you to develop new ways of thinking.
- Bereavement – whilst grieving you may experience a wide range of difficult and confusing emotions. Counselling can help you to explore these emotions and work through any unresolved issues that you may have.
- Bullying – you may be experiencing verbal, emotional or physical bullying at home, in school/college or in the workplace. This can affect every aspect of your life and counselling can support you in seeking help and advice.
- Illness – counselling can help you come to terms with illness and support those that are caring for others.
- Mental health – counselling can help you explore the thoughts and feelings that can arise when living with a mental health issue such as depression or anxiety.
- Relationships – counselling gives you a safe, confidential space to explore all types of relationships including, families, friends, work and partners, and the difficulties that may arise.
These are just a few of the many issues that counselling can help with.
How many sessions will I need?
Counselling is tailored to suit the individual and so is not a one-size-fits-all. There isn’t a specific process or checklist of things that you need to work through. For most people, one session isn’t enough to effect long-term change so for you to get the most out of counselling, you may need to commit to regular counselling sessions.
In the first session I may ask you some questions so that I can understand what has brought you to counselling and what you wish to gain from it. I will also explain the counselling process to you in full so that you can decide whether or not you want to continue.
Choosing to access counselling can be a big decision and it’s perfectly normal to feel anxious before your first session. Having some idea of what you can expect can help you to feel less nervous about your first appointment.
