What is counselling?
What is counselling?
A bit about what I do.
I am a person centred counsellor and I work with individuals. My standard arrangement is to offer 50 minute appointment on a weekly bases. Although this is my most usual way of working I want to create a counselling experience that suits you and we can discuss all aspects of your counselling needs to create our counselling agreement.
I have experience of working with people with a range of issues from generalised anxiety and relationship difficulties, to people with psychiatric diagnosis. I am keen to work with anyone who feels that I would be a good fit for them, regardless of their presenting problem.
Counselling is an opportunity to sit with a professional and to talk through your problems. The benefit of talking to a trained counsellor is that the conversation remains focused on you.
Friends and family are good to talk to but our conversations tend to follow an action - reaction pattern.
For example:
A "My cat died yesterday".
B "Ohh poor you, that's awful, I had a cat once I was devastated when I lost it, but it does get better".
B has given a kind response, they believe that A is probably upset by the death of their cat and they acknowledge that. They talk about their own experience to show that they understand and they offer a 'making better' statement to help A to move on.
In counselling the conversation could look more like this.
A "My cat died yesterday".
B "Your Cat died?".
A "Yes, I feel so sad, I've had him for years, I'll really miss him".
B "I can see that you're sad, it's really painful for you".
A "Yes it is, we got him when my children were small. Now that they have left home he was all the company that I had".
This second example illustrates how a counselling conversation of action - reflection keeps the conversation focused on A allowing them to express how they are feeling. B doesn't rush A away from feeling sad but acknowledges and supports those feelings. This allows A the opportunity to expand on their feelings and leads to other areas of potential exploration.
Laying your thoughts and feelings out in front of another person can be cathartic in itself. Offloading can make space in your mind for new trains of thought, fresh perspectives and different ways of thinking.
You can find more information about the person centred approach to counselling on the internet, or by reading my page Person Centred Counselling.