What to expect
When starting your counselling journey
Starting anything new in life can feel daunting, and you may be unsure of what to expect from counselling.
It is perfectly natural to experience a range of emotions before your first session - Nerves, excitement, doubt, curiosity - all are welcome!
In the session
We will start off with a few exploratory questions to assess what you are experiencing, and how you might like counselling to help.
Some people have certain goals they want to work towards, whilst others are looking for a more general sense of support in their everyday lives.
A lot of people just want to better understand themselves, or work on their confidence.
Whatever your specific needs, we can establish a way of working on them, together.
The process of counselling
I work on an open ended basis, providing both short or long term therapy for clients.
There is no obligation to commit to a certain number of sessions - However, most people find one session a week suits them well, and has a positive impact on the flow of therapy.
The main thing to remember is that there is no rush and no pressure - we will work at your pace and cover whatever material feels most important to you at the time.
My Approach and the Therapeutic Relationship
I believe a fundamental factor in the success of therapy is the therapeutic relationship. That means, how the counsellor and client respond to each other and work collaboratively.
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A positive counsellor / client relationship is essential in facilitating positive outcomes in therapy - effectively, we need the joint relationship, we need the perspective of another person to truly allow us to see things that we were previously blind to.
I do this using gentle challenge and observation, as well as validation and understanding.
I work a lot with feelings, encouraging you to become more aware of what is going on in your body and at a deep emotional level.
I may also tap into different 'parts' of you so that we may figure out what they are trying to say, and how they might need soothing or acceptance.