How Can
Counselling Help?
As life brings many challenges, it is understandable that at times we might look for support in facing them.
As a counsellor, my role is to provide a warm, safe, comfortable and confidential space to allow you to explore your feelings and life experiences. Through exploration and examining your life, you will become more self-aware which can help you make new, meaningful choices within it.
I offer a chance to reflect on the difficulties or problems you are experiencing in a safe environment, this can be helpful with someone from outside your day-to-day life. Together we can explore your situation in a way that leads to fresh perspectives - and a new understanding of yourself. Counselling is not about giving you solutions or advice but empowering you to make your own changes and choices that are right for you. I am not the expert in your life, you are!
My Approach is a Person-Centred one
Person-centred counselling is one of the humanistic modalities or approaches. It was founded in the 1940s by the American psychologist Carl Rogers who believed that, given the right conditions, a person can reach their full potential and become their true self, which he termed ‘self-actualisation’. This actualisation process is innate and accessible to everyone. To help you achieve self-actualisation, the person-centred therapist will offer:
- unconditional positive regard (UPR) – accepting and valuing you
- congruence - being honest and transparent in how they experience you and your world
- empathic understanding – seeing your viewpoint as if they were you.
Many clients, with no prior knowledge of counselling, believe that the counsellor will sort their problems out for them. A person-centred counsellor will help you to explore your own issues, feelings, beliefs, behaviour, and worldview, so you can become more self-aware and achieve greater independence.
The aim is to help you to realise what resources and support are available to you that you can use to work through your own issues, build your self-confidence and appreciate that you always have options. They will treat you as the expert on yourself, as no-one else knows exactly what it’s like to be you.
A Person-Centred counsellor will not judge you, no matter what you bring to the session. This helps build a trustworthy relationship in which you can feel free and supported to disclose whatever is troubling you. Eventually it will lead you to discover your own abilities and autonomy, so that you can cope with current and future problems (BACP, 2024).
What issues can counselling help with?
Cancer diagnosis and its impacts
Grief, loss, or bereavement
Depression
Difficulties at work
Problems with family or relationships
Feelings of stress or anxiety
Relationship problems
Problems with confidence or self-esteem
The Value of Therapy
Therapy provides a safe and confidential space for you to talk to a trained professional about your issues and concerns.
I help you explore you, so you can develop a better understanding of yourself and of others around you. I will not give you my opinions or advice or prescribe medication. I am here to help you find your own solutions.
Counselling can help whether that is making effective changes in your life or finding ways of coping with your problems (BACP, 2024).
A safe space to talk...
My counselling sessions are confidential and in a safe space for you to talk openly and freely. I value my clients as individuals with each treated with dignity, respect and without judgement.
You can freely express your thoughts and feelings, all within a confidential setting.
Your journey shared with me…
Whatever the issue, many people face difficulties in their everyday lives that can be hard to get on top of.
I am here to listen and help you reconnect with your inner values and sense of self-worth, thus enabling you to find your own way to move forward and progress into the person you want to be.
Feel empowered…
Being alongside you, I can help you gain greater insight into the difficulties you are facing, help you understand why you act or react to them the way you do, and see how you can start to make better, healthier choices moving forward.
My aim is to empower each client so they have control and make choices that are right for them.