What is Psychotherapy & How it works

About Psychotherapy & Counselling

I offer face-to-face psychotherapy and counselling to clients who are aged 14 years old and above.

Therapy can help you understand your emotions and feelings and express them in a way you find helpful and less destructive. You can also discover ways to manage then and get a deeper understanding into your emotions and how and where they developed from. Feeling more in control of these strong emotions and understanding triggers can help you have healthier relationships with people in your life and beyond.

Differences between Psychotherapy and counselling.

There has been a lot of deliberation into the differences between psychotherapy and counselling. Generally counselling has been seen as more short-term and dealing with issues relating to the present. Psychotherapy has a longer initial training and can be seen more as medium to long term work and the focus can be on both past and present.

More often psychotherapists provide psychotherapy as well as counselling. I can offer a mixture of short-term or brief work and also offer medium and longer term work.

Some clients only want a one-off session or a few sessions. Others may wish to attend for a few months or even a few years.

In my experience I have found that some clients come for a while, take a break when they have achieved what they wanted and then come back, when the need arises. I guess this makes sense if you find that you have found a psychotherapist with whom you have a good working therapeutic relationship.

How it works

We work together at a pace and a level that feels right for you. In this way, we can uncover, discover and often re-discover more of who you really are; understand the purpose behind the problems or crisis that you are currently experiencing, and explore the options that begin to present themselves.

Sometimes you might wish to explore very practical matters to improve the quality of your life.

Sometimes you might wish to work at a deeper level to understand your inner world.

Both ways are possible and both could have a transforming impact on your life.

Short term counselling usually lasts between 6 and 12 sessions. Medium and long term work last for 6 months and longer. It can depend on what you wish to resolve or develop in your life.

Coming to therapy for the first time?

Every individual is unique and negative life events are experienced differently by different people. It may be the case that you need some extra support to make sense of what is happening to you and the emotions you are feeling. 

Sometimes the thought of  telling your story is the most daunting and terrifying task of all, and counselling might seem an impossible task to undertake. Counselling can  help ease the pain of and understand meanings at the root of  difficult feelings, for this to happen it is important that you feel safe with the person you are sharing this with.

Telling your story to someone who will listen carefully and strives to understand and accepts you without agenda is a crucial component of counselling. It is as a result of this that more deeper exploration can begin and then change can happen

Sometimes, you might be very familiar with telling your story but it seems to make no difference to the uncomfortable, often painful feelings you experience; your "familiar story" only serves to hide what it is that really needs to be said and needs to be understood from a deeper place within. 



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