About counselling
"Counselling and psychotherapy are umbrella terms that cover the range of talking therapies. They are delivered by trained practitioners who work with people over short or long term to help them bring about effective change or enhance their wellbeing." BACP definition of the talking therapies.
Therapy provides an opportunity to talk in confidence to someone with the skills and experience to listen carefully and to respond in depth. The aim of therapy is to help you make the changes that you feel would benefit you. Often the origins of our problems lie in the past, but the links may not be obvious. Therapy can help you make connections between past and present and in turn allow you a greater freedom of thought and action. A good therapist will not tell you what to do, but will be alongside to help you make sense of your difficulties in a safe and accepting environment.
What is the difference between counselling and psychotherapy?
Counselling and psychotherapy have many things in common and there is no firm distinction between the two. Counselling tends to address current issues that have a more specific focus and the work may be shorter in duration. Psychotherapy tends to explore deeper underlying patterns and feelings concerning longstanding issues.
My own training is in humanistic integrative counselling. 'Humanistic' refers to the value of every individual and the belief in their capacity to heal and grow. 'Integrative' means that I combine a number of different approaches. This includes working like a psychotherapist i.e. addressing underlying unconscious patterns that stem from childhood experiences. If you have any unanswered questions about counselling, please contact me by phone or email.