About Counselling
What is counselling?
Counselling is sometimes referred to as a talking cure. It describes a helping relationship between a client and a counsellor. Typically, you would meet regularly over a short or longer period of time, in a safe and private environment, free from outside distractions.
By listening to you, attentively and patiently, your counsellor offers you the opportunity to express and explore your thoughts and feelings. You should feel free to discuss whatever you wish, in your own time and in your own way, feeling confident that your counsellor will not judge or criticise you. Also, what you share with your counsellor should be held by them, in confidence.
A counsellor’s job is not to tell you what to do or give you advice. Instead, they should respect your values and personal resources, and support you to make decisions and changes, that feel right for you. By feeling heard, understood and accepted, you will hopefully feel able to make new choices and changes and to live with a greater sense of well-being.
Why counselling?
People come to counselling for a wide range of reasons, which can be quite specific or more general, in nature. The common factor is that they are experiencing problems in living their lives. Before approaching a counsellor, they may have tried to help themselves, in various ways.
The types of issues which people might bring to counselling include:
- Depression
- Personal growth and development
- Stress and anxiety
- Low self-esteem
- Bereavement and loss
- Anger management
- Sexuality issues
- Career choice and change
- Relationship difficulties
- Loneliness and isolation
- Work-related problems
- A lack of direction, meaning or purpose in life
- Bullying and harassment
- Problems related to long-term health conditions
The potential benefits of counselling
Each of us is unique and how we benefit from counselling will likewise be a very individual matter. Counselling can be highly effective. Its benefits have been well documented, putting it among the most tested and validated of health interventions.
Some of the potential benefits of counselling include:
- Support during a difficult time such as a life crisis
- Greater self-awareness, self-acceptance and understanding of your thoughts, feelings and behaviour
- Learning new skills and strategies which you can use in the future
- A sense of empowerment through the achievement of desired goals
- Improvements in your physical and emotional health
- A reduction or elimination of troubling psychological problems
- Increased self-esteem and confidence
- More resilience in the face of stress
- A chance to resolve troubling issues from the past
- Greater resourcefulness in making decisions and solving problems
- Feeling more in control
- A reduction in confusion and an increase in clarity
- More ease in communicating assertively
- An improvement in interpersonal skills leading to more satisfying relationships
- Greater productivity and creativity in your work and personal lives
- Clearer purpose and direction in life
Contact Neil:
For more information and an informal chat about how counselling might help you,
or to make your first appointment, please call Neil on:
07970 860 711
