"Feeling listened to and understood changes our physiology; being able to articulate a complex feeling, and having our feelings recognised, lights up our limbic brain and creates an 'aha moment'"
Bessel Van Der Kolk
How can counselling help me?
Counselling is a universal service that anyone can benefit from if they are interested in understanding themselves and willing to engage in the process.
Counselling is the regular opportunity to explore and make sense of our lives, with a trusted individual, trained to support you. You may consider counselling if you are feeling desperation and despair, a sense of extreme or mild dissatisfaction in your life or if you have an interest in expanding your understanding of yourself. Whatever your reason for accessing counselling; improving your understanding and processing your experience can boost wellbeing and your enjoyment of life.
Counselling is the regular opportunity to explore and make sense of our lives, with a trusted individual, trained to support you. You may consider counselling if you are feeling desperation and despair, a sense of extreme or mild dissatisfaction in your life or if you have an interest in expanding your understanding of yourself. Whatever your reason for accessing counselling; improving your understanding and processing your experience can boost wellbeing and your enjoyment of life.
What happens in a counselling session?
In counselling you would usually direct the focus for the session. It may be that you have particular topics that you want to work on over a series of sessions or you may feel that you want to navigate the sessions more organically, bringing to discussion topics that have been more in the foreground of your attention. Counselling can offer you space to reflect and explore either particular topics, with a more structured feel to sessions or you may wish to use the space as an arena to express how you have been feeling and experiencing the world. I would not offer advice but may offer feedback to illuminate patterns, inconsistencies or connected themes that may prove useful to you for making changes in your life. For some people counselling may include some psychoeducation to help understand how our minds and bodies interact to create our emotional experience.
For those who find it difficult to put your feelings and experiences into words, we can use alternative techniques to support communication.
If you come to session and you do not know where to begin or what to talk about, if you prefer, I will happily step in with curiosity and questions to support movement of the conversation.
For those who find it difficult to put your feelings and experiences into words, we can use alternative techniques to support communication.
If you come to session and you do not know where to begin or what to talk about, if you prefer, I will happily step in with curiosity and questions to support movement of the conversation.
What can counselling be helpful for?
- Feeling valued, heard and understood
- Managing and navigating difficult life events, such as a bereavement, a relationship breakdown or work-related stress
- Finding ways to manage strong and overwhelming emotions – for example, feelings of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem or anger
- Making sense of past experiences
- Understanding current unhealthy and/or unhelpful behaviours and exploring ways to make positive change.
You might choose counselling if:
You would value a regular space to talk through and make sense of experiences with a trained, impartial and non-judgemental professional.
