About Counselling
Most people have at some time in their lives experienced periods of difficulty and unhappiness. This can affect us on many levels, and can have a serious impact on our relationships with others. Sometimes the reasons can be very immediate and clear, such as a traumatic event. In other situations a person may have felt distressed and unhappy for a long time without an obvious cause.
Examples include
those who:
- Have difficulty forming or maintaining
relationships, feel lonely or unable to cope. - Are trying to cope with traumatic events,
for example bereavement, relationship breakdown, family or work difficulties. - Lack of self-confidence/assertiveness, or
feel victimised, feel depressed or suicidal. - Show physical symptoms apparently as a
result of emotional difficulties. - Experience sexual problems.
- Suffer from phobias, addictions, or eating
disorders, panic attacks or obsessions. - Experienced trauma in the past, for
example, abuse, physical or sexual. - Harm themselves or are involved in other self-destructive behaviour.
Sometimes the help that family and friends can provide is not enough, especially if the experience is prolonged or tends to repeat itself.
Whatever the problem may be, it is important to remember that there is hope!
Professional help is different!
Therapists are professionally trained to deal with a wide and varied range of problems. Counselling/Psychotherapy is a "talking" therapy which is a means of providing help if you wish to improve the quality of your life, to enhance your relationships, or to deal with specific problems.
Counselling is usually short term for a specific problem, while psychotherapy takes longer and involves looking more deeply at past as well as present events.
The secure space provided by regular, ongoing and confidential sessions with a therapist in a non-judgemental and accepting atmosphere allow an opportunity to reflect on these problems and the feelings associated with them.
Counselling/Psychotherapy can lead to a process of change which opens up new, more positive possibilities for the future. Changes may include feeling more in control, managing emotions better, feeling more self-confident and assertive and having a greater sense of freedom to act and to make choices.
What do I do?
The most crucial step is deciding to seek help and be willing to talk about your
present difficulties. The next step is to make an "initial" appointment with the therapist. This first session will last for approximately
one hour. The aim of this session is to allow you to meet the therapist to discuss your needs and concerns and to decide together if therapy could be helpful to you.