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Individual counselling

There may be occasions in your life when you feel unable to talk to friends or family about your problems. It can sometimes help to talk to someone outside of your immediate circle, a trained and experienced counsellor who will listen carefully to what you have to say. The knowledge that you can talk to a supportive and non-judgemental therapist in confidence, can often help you feel less isolated and alone.

There may be variety of reasons why you are considering seeing a counsellor. You may be facing a life changing event that has created shock and grief. You may be experiencing feelings of depression and isolation, low self-esteem or suffering from feelings of anxiety without fully understanding why. There may be events from your past that are preventing you from living your life in the way you would like to. Equally, you may be experiencing a lack of direction, feelings of boredom or of being trapped. A significant relationship may be proving difficult for you to manage healthily. You may be aware of self-destructive patterns occurring in your life which are causing you, or those around you pain. Extreme feelings such as anger, shame, guilt, sadness or loneliness may also be affecting your daily life, keeping you stuck in an uncomfortable place.

Once you have taken the brave step to contact a counsellor and have decided to seek help through therapy, it is quite normal to feel nervous. To begin with it might be difficult to talk about the issues that have brought you to the therapy room. You may experience fear of being judged or criticised. Perhaps you have never felt that anyone has really listened to you, or understood you, let alone accepted you. The relationship that is formed with a counsellor can be very different to previous relationships. It is an environment where there is no ‘wrong or right’ and where no judgements are made.

Counselling provides a space in which you can explore the issues that are affecting you. Counselling provides an opportunity for you to progress towards a more satisfying and resourceful way of living. It opens the door to understanding personal emotional problems and conflicts.

Counselling is about helping to make sense of the problems and difficulties that affect your ability to enjoy life and relationships, it’s about finding a way to ease whatever psychological stresses, strains or injuries you have suffered and find relief from the burden they may have created.

Before commencing counselling or psychotherapy I will invite you along to an initial consultation, where we can meet each other and discuss what you are looking for from therapy.