What is counselling?

Counselling is when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life or their current circumstances. It is always at the request of the client and no one can properly be ‘sent’ for counselling.

By listening attentively and patiently, the counsellor can begin to perceive the difficulties from the client’s point of view and can help them to see things more clearly, possibly from a slightly different angle. Counselling is a way of facilitating choice or change or reducing confusion.

In counselling, the relationship between the client and the counsellor is an essential part of the process. As trust is built up, the counsellor will encourage the clients to look at aspects of their lives; their relationships and themselves, which they may not have thought of or felt able to face before. Bottled-up feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief and embarrassment can become very intense. The counsellor will encourage the expression of these feelings, thus making them easier for the client to understand.

There may be some exploration of early relationships to discover how they came to react to certain people or situations in certain ways that contribute to their difficulties, followed by consideration of ways in which they might change. The counsellor may set out the options open to clients and help them to follow whichever one they choose. The counsellor may help the client to examine in detail the situations or behaviours which are proving troublesome and to find a small but crucial point where it would be possible to initiate some change as a start.

Counselling/coaching sessions usually last for one hour and are  held at my office. I offer honesty and confidentiality

The sessions start at £50.00 per hour.