What can I offer you in Counselling?
Whether as an individual or a couple, I can work with you on a short or long term basis, depending on your needs and what you would like to gain from your counselling. In either case, we would review the sessions together from time to time to see how you are finding it and if it is still providing what you want.
My counselling approach is integrative which means that I draw on different ways of working to suit your individual needs. My core training is based on a Humanistic, Person Centred approach and this is the cornerstone of my way of working. In addition to this, I will bring other methods into our work such as CBT as helpful and appropriate.
What might you need help with?
It’s difficult to put all the concerns or difficulties you may have into single words, but here are some examples of the things I can help you with:
- Addiction
- Anger
- Anxiety and Panic disorder
- Bereavement, Loneliness and Loss
- Bullying and Low self-esteem
- Depression and Bipolar disorder
- Divorce, Separation and Family issues
- Fears and Phobias
- Health related issues
- Infertility, Miscarriage
- Obsessions, OCD / Hoarding
- Low confidence
- Redundancy and Work related issues
- Relationship difficulties
- Self development
- Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
- Sexual, physical or emotional abuse
- Stress
Couples and Relationship Therapy
You may choose to come to counselling as a couple. This may be due to issues arising in your relationship that you are struggling to get past and understand. New patterns of behaviour can creep into relationships because of difficult life events, people changing individually or due to changes in circumstances either in or out of your control. Couples can find themselves at an impasse – somehow stuck and not knowing how to move forward together. Many things can upset the balance and present challenges in relationships:
- Affairs and Betrayal
- Bereavement and Loss
- Depression and Anxiety
- Illness
- Infidelity
- Job losses and changes
- Life stage changes
- Loss of attraction and (sexual) intimacy
- Loss of sense of individuality or “otherness” in the relationship
- Starting a family
- And many others…
As your therapist, I see my role as working alongside you both to gain an understanding of what the “fit” is between you, how you operate as a unit together and understanding where it has potentially broken down. It requires a facilitative approach allowing you to find your own interpretations, solutions and ways forward.
During the work, we would explore the nature of your relationship, (past and present), hopes and expectations for therapy and your motivations given the likelihood that one of you will have made the initial referral.
Initially, the work will involve helping you to hear each other. At the same time, to observe the dynamics between you, helping to uncover changes or unhelpful patterns of behaviour which may have come from life scripts, family beliefs, culture, life events or even habits. By noticing these areas of conflict or “stuckness”, working through them in a non-judgemental way and removing the blame element, space can be created for understanding and development of new tools needed for you to move forward.
Couple therapy may also be useful if you have already decided to separate and need a safe and contained space to work through the tasks involved with this.
Relationship therapy is not limited to “couples” – I am also happy to work with parents / children, siblings, friends and co-workers as examples.
If you’re unsure whether I can help you with your particular issue as an individual or as a couple, please contact me and we can talk it through.