Why use counselling? Anxiety, depression, relationship problems and many other reasons
From time to time many of us will encounter problems in life and it can be helpful to learn ways of understanding ourselves better. We may face any of the following:
- Loneliness — finding it hard to make friends, problems with living alone or feeling alienated within current relationships
- anxiety — worrying about past and anticipated situations
- depression — finding it hard to cope with feelings of depression
- bereavement — death of loved ones or facing up to one's own mortality
- relationship problems — either with a partner or other family member or with friends and work colleagues
- sexual identity — uncertainty around sexual orientation
- illness — living with illness or injury and getting used to new ways of coping and associated loss of old fitness
- addiction — alcohol, food, drugs
- work place issues — bullying, discrimination, redundancy, retirement
It can often be hard to raise these issues with friends and family and it may be useful to talk to someone independent.
Integrative counselling — treating you as an individual
I aim to create a safe environment where you can talk about what is troubling you with a view to coping better. This could involve change or gaining a different perspective — or sometimes accepting the status quo. I am an integrative counsellor meaning that I use a combination of different approaches to suit my client. I treat each client as an individual and aim to match my way of working according to your need. For example you may want to look at how your past is influencing the present or you may find it more useful to work on finding immediate solutions to your problems. My underlying ethos is around helping you to make sense of what is happening.
Short and long term counselling
I work on both a short and long term basis. When we meet for the first time we can discuss how many sessions you are thinking of. We can then review on a regular basis to ensure you are getting what you want from counselling.
More about my qualifications etc. can be found on the About Me page.