Counselling is designed to help you speak about your thoughts and feelings and give you a safe space to work through any problems that you might be facing in your life. Some counselling is face-to-face, but I do offer counselling sessions over the phone or over Teams, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp etc. You can choose whichever set up you feel most comfortable with. If you decide that you’d prefer to change from telephone to web chat or vice versa, this can be done. Most counselling sessions take place once per week and last for 50 minutes.

I will begin by introducing myself, establishing some boundaries for the sessions and telling you a little bit about the way that I work. Then, I may ask you to talk about what brought you into counselling and what you’d like to work on. I have something called CORE 10 (a document), which I use in the first session to measure how you have been feeling over the last week. It’s 10 questions which will ask how you’re feeling or managing, for example, “have you had difficulty sleeping over the last week?” You don’t have to know the answers straight away and it’s ok if you’re not sure yet – I will help you work that out. You should feel free to ask me anything you want to know about how things will work in each session and what is expected of you.

A counsellor/psychotherapist isn't there to tell you what to talk about, but they will help you to work out what it is that you’d like to focus on. It doesn’t matter if it takes a while to get there. You might find that things about your childhood come up in conversation, or your relationships with friends and family. You might discuss your thoughts and emotions, your behaviour and things that you find difficult. If you have a specific issue you want to talk about, like anxiety, bereavement or addiction; I can help you to deal with this. Sometimes you won’t be able to think of anything to say – that’s ok and there’s no need to feel awkward. Take your time and eventually the conversation will flow naturally again.

Counselling can be hard sometimes, because you’re talking through issues you find difficult and this can bring up lots of emotions. Remember to be kind to yourself and know that it’s ok if you struggle – the process takes time and it’s normal to find it challenging. Try writing down the things that come up during each section. It will help you to remember what you have learned and reflect on issues that have been brought up. It’s important to remember that not every session will feel as helpful as others, but that’s ok. I am trained to help you reach the goals that we set together and I will guide you in the right direction. Everything you say will be completely confidential, unless I am concerned for your life or the life of someone you know. If I ever need to speak to someone else, I would let you know and ask you if it is ok to do so. This is in accordance with my confidentiality policy and I only do this if I believe that you or someone else is at risk.

Counselling is commonly shorter in duration, and often focuses on a specific issue such as bereavement or a difficult situation such as work-related stress. Psychotherapy is typically longer term and addresses deeper issues. However, the terms counselling and psychotherapy are often used interchangeably.