What is Counselling?
Understanding how counselling can support you.
Counselling provides a safe, confidential space to talk openly about what you’re experiencing, whether you feel overwhelmed, stuck, uncertain or simply find that things have become harder to manage. You don’t need to have everything figured out before seeking support. Together, we can explore your thoughts and emotions, understand what may be contributing to how you feel, and make sense of patterns that may be holding you back – all at your own pace.
Therapy can be a powerful
Working Together to Heal
When you arrive you are welcome to take a seat in the waiting area. At your appointment time, you will be greeted and shown into the therapy room. The first session is an assessment. This is where we explore:
What has brought you to counselling
What you hope to achieve
Your current situation
Any relevant personal history
The symptoms or difficulties you are experiencing
It’s also an opportunity for you to ask questions and get a feel for whether counselling is right for you, and whether you feel comfortable committing to regular sessions.
If you decide to continue, we will go through our working agreement – including confidentiality, session times and how we will work together.
What to expect from Counselling
Understanding sessions, appointments and support between sessions
Counselling provides a supportive, empathic space to explore your experiences. At times, this can feel emotional, challenging or tiring, particularly when discussing painful memories or difficult feelings. Although things may feel harder initially, this can be a natural part of the process as you begin to understand, process and work through what is weighing on you.
The number of sessions varies depending on your needs, the nature of your concerns, your commitment and the work you do between sessions. We will regularly review your progress together. Sessions last 50 minutes and are usually held weekly at the same time, although we can discuss changes to the day or frequency where needed.
Contact details outside of sessions are provided for cancellations and appointment changes and are not continuously monitored. Messages will be responded to as soon as possible, but if you need urgent medical help or are experiencing an extreme situation, please seek appropriate medical advice. Visit our Crisis Support page for useful telephone numbers and further information.
The impact of healing
Wanting to book for someone you are worried about?
If you are worried about someone else’s mental health the best thing to do is to talk to them about it.
Mental illness is a natural part of being human and one in four of us will have some mental health issue at one time in our lives. When things do go wrong in our lives, such as bereavement or divorce, we expect to feel distressed. However if issues have gone on for longer than we think they should, they don’t seem to settle or get any better, it may be time to get some help. Listen to your instincts if you feel something isn’t quite right as mental health problems show themselves in differing ways.
Chose the correct time to talk to the person you are worried about, when you are calm, when the time is right, be forthright and honest, listen carefully, ask open-ended questions, give them hope, be supportive, give them resources, such as directing them to our website, and keep supporting them.
Unfortunately you cannot access counselling for someone else, this has to be their own decision. Counselling can be a difficult journey and they have to be ready to commit to this process for themselves.
Gift vouchers are available if you think this would be useful.
.Taking that first step takes courage
You’ve already taken the first step by being here
Take a look at our therapists. When someone feels right for you, simply visit their profile and book your appointment – it really is that straightforward.