When should I have counselling? What can it help me with?
Counselling can be useful when you’re facing up to big, stressful life-events like bereavement, relationship difficulties, redundancy, illness, relocation and so on. It can support you to examine patterns of behaviour you are not happy with, like addiction or obsessiveness, and personal and work related situations which are difficult for you. Counselling may help you explore traumatic or painful issues from your past. But as well as all of these more obvious reasons, it can also help if you simply don’t feel quite right or want to spend some time on your own personal growth and development.
What would a session actually be like?
Sessions last for an hour and take place in a comfortable, private room in my house. There are periods of talking, silence, tears and sometimes laughter, and I take my cues from you as to what you are ready to talk about and when. In person-centred work I don’t hide behind a cold or analytical facade. It’s not about trying to “fix” clients, but about two human beings meeting to explore difficult or painful issues in a safe, warm and accepting atmosphere.
What about the expressive arts training?
Sometimes clients can find it difficult to access the deep emotions and experiences they haven’t yet got words for. In this situation it can be helpful to draw and make marks with crayons and pens, sometimes with the non-dominant hand. Clients can also choose from a range of miniatures and figures which are in the consulting room, and use them in a variety of ways to help unlock their feelings.
What’s the difference between counselling and therapy?
This is a subject of much heated debate in the profession! Some people believe that counselling tends to be shorter term than therapy. My own belief is, that whatever you call it, the process is always about taking some time for you, coming to terms with painful and or difficult things and moving towards a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life.
How many sessions would I need?
This varies from client to client and there’s no right or wrong number. Some people find they have worked through things in just a few sessions; others feel that they need a greater amount of time. Contracts with clients have lasted anything from two or three sessions to two or three years. You can book a specific number of sessions or decide you want to leave it open-ended. We can always negotiate as we go along.