Counselling & Supervision
"Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes"
- Carl Jung
Plain Talking Therapy
Many people have negative thoughts and feelings that prevent them from fully enjoying their lives. This could follow a single traumatic event or a significant change like a bereavement, job loss or the breakdown of a relationship. It may also be the result of prolonged experiences of abuse or neglect, particularly during our childhood. Other people experience more generalised feelings of sadness or anxiety that they struggle to pin down and which can overwhelm them.
Exploring your experiences with a trained counsellor can help you start to make sense of what has happened and to explore the impact it has had on you. Taking time to talk in a safe and confidential space can help you give voice to the often painful thoughts and feelings that you may have been holding onto for many years. This can help to free you from negative thoughts and emotions, change unhelpful behaviours and help you regain the freedom to respond to life as it happens.
As a Counsellor I am able to deal with a wide range of the issues and experiences that are an integral part of the life stories of many people. Through this talking therapy you can become better equipped to make the choices that will lead to greater fulfilment, improved relationships and more positive outcomes in your life.
Counsellors do not diagnose in the way that many psychiatrists and psychologists frequently do. In talking to a Counsellor you will not be labelled, pathologised or judged.
I do not use medical or psychiatric terminology to define peoples' thoughts, feelings and experiences. Instead I use the language of everyday life to help you make sense of what may be happening and find the voice you need to express what you are thinking and feeling.
How Counselling Can Help
For many of us the way we think and feel is a response to our present circumstances set against a backdrop of how we view the world and our place within it. How we show up in the present is the result of our responses to all we have seen and experienced.
From an early age we try to make sense of what we see around us. While this is rooted in our own thoughts and feelings, it can also be heavily influenced by the opinions and behaviour of those around us. We work hard to find ways to cope with whatever life throws at us. This often means developing various strategies for protecting ourselves from the real or perceived threats we encounter along the way. We construct an identity for ourselves that we continue to adapt in response to life's challenges.
These ways of coping can remain long after their usefulness has ended and we can get stuck in old habits. What was once a suit of armour that protected us becomes a straight-jacket that holds us back.
Some of us are able to travel lightly through life, but others accumulate negative experiences that weigh us down and prevent us from growing into who we would like to be.
Counselling can help us unpick the ties that bind our present actions to our past experiences and explore the beliefs and behaviours that may no longer be serving us as well as they did.
Exploring our experiences in a safe and confidential space gives us a chance to make sense of what has happened to us and through this we can begin to accept our stories and our role within it.
By gently sifting through the layers of our experience we can connect with our emotions and find a voice to be able to express them safely rather than keeping them hidden.
This is an opportunity for people to tell their stories aloud to someone who will not judge, but instead will be able to hold our emotions and bear witness to whatever we have encountered and endured that now needs to be expressed.
Counselling can give us back the freedom to choose how we wish to live in the present without it being dictated by our past.
First Steps ...
Taking those first steps towards counselling can be daunting, particularly when we are in distress or struggling to manage key aspects of our lives. For those who have not experienced counselling before, and even for those who have, this may feel like stepping into unknown territory. Whatever we may have heard about counselling, or seen on television or in films, we can only really know what it is going to be like for us by experiencing it.
Research continually shows that the key to a successful outcome is the quality of the relationship. This can only be explored by meeting in person or online. I offer every new client an Introductory Session. This is an opportunity for me to talk briefly about how I work and for you to say something about what is going on for you. By the end of that session you will have a sense of what counselling will be like and can then decide whether you wish to continue. There is no charge for that session or any obligation to continue the work.
If you feel ready to take that first step then go to the Contact page for various ways to get in touch. If you have concerns or questions, then you may find the answers on the Counselling page where there is more detailed information about counselling in general and how I work.