What do counsellors / psychotherapists do?

You may have decided to seek counselling for the first time and this may seem daunting. What does it actually mean to have counselling/therapy?

A counsellor or psychotherapist will;

Provide a safe, private ‘breathing space’ from the rest of your life............

• It’s a place for you, focussed on your needs and concerns

• Talking to someone separate from your day to day life can help you think about yourself freely, in a way which is sometimes difficult with friends     and family

 Listen to you with respect and care...........

• Accepting you as you are, without judging you

• Therapists seek to understand exactly how you see the world; using their training and experience, they will try and help you make connections between things and see the ‘bigger picture’

 Work with you to improve your wellbeing..........

• Helping you to plan changes you want to make in your life and form strategies for managing this

• A trained therapist brings a professional understanding of exploring complex issues and experience of managing change with structure and focus

 Support you through difficult experiences..........

• Sometimes trying to understand how we feel can seem impossibly difficult; sometimes our feelings or experiences can be so painful, we are frightened by them. A therapist stays with you in the painful, lost feelings and will help you to find a path out of the difficulty which you might not have seen.

 What can counselling / psychotherapy help with?

 Counselling and psychotherapy has helped many people manage and recover from a huge range of emotional difficulties, including:

• Feeling overwhelmed and being unable to cope or concentrate

• An inability to deal with stress or recover from stressful situations

• Lack of confidence, excessive shyness or low self esteem

• Feelings of depression, sadness, grief or emptiness

• Anxiety, panic attacks, mood swings and phobias

• Debilitating feelings of anger or fear

• Difficulty making or sustaining relationships, or repeatedly becoming involved in unsatisfying or destructive relationships 

• Identity issues

• Sexuality and gender issues

• Difficulties in coming to terms with losses such as bereavement, separation or loss of employment

• Traumatic past events and experiences

• Self harm and self harming behaviours

• Obsessive behaviour

• Eating disorders and body image issues

• Addictions

  I have experience of working with all of these issues.

  I also have additional training in;

• Eating Disorders
• Anxiety in Teens and Young Adults
• Autism and ADHD

 Therapy can also be a proactive choice to:

• Understand longstanding patterns of behaviour and thoughts which may no longer be helpful

• Challenge blocks to creativity and facilitate personal development and growth

• Explore beliefs, hopes and ambitions for the future and the achievement of goals