Counselling

“it is as much the future
as the past
and therefore the most living present.”
                                                   Carl Gustav Jung

What is the difference you may ask between counselling and psychotherapy? There are of course overlaps in that essentially they both offer the opportunity to explore, within a confidential environment, what is troubling you in the present and preventing you from living life more fully.

Counselling can give you the chance to look at current difficulties from another perspective that may shed light on what has been happening and why you have felt so emotionally affected or stuck. It’s a little like taking a ride in a helicopter and seeing the bigger picture whilst also zooming in on the trouble spots where more attention might be needed.

Talking to a trained and experienced counsellor within a safe space and outside your family and friends can give you the freedom to speak openly about your most intimate and private concerns. Within a supportive and safe environment it is possible to gain a new understanding of yourself and the way your early experiences of growing up may lay beneath your current struggles. Often shining a light on what has previously been hidden from sight, opens up possibilities for change and a new direction for your future.

The containment of the therapeutic relationship within the consulting room provides the opportunity to release locked up feelings which may never have felt safe to let out before. Through feeling understood and gaining insight to more of yourself and getting to know what is important for you, you will develop your capacity to forge good and enduring relationships where perhaps this felt impossible before.

Counselling tends to be of shorter duration, focussing on a specific concern which can be agreed for a set number of sessions and/or a set number of months. It can also be more flexible without setting a time limit and for as long as is required, adapting to your needs and wishes as appropriate. Maybe you do not know what you need or want just now and the initial appointment can be a good time to think about this with me.