Counselling

About Counselling

Counselling takes place in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the individual is facing. For instance, this could be any type of distress they may be experiencing. Or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life or loss of a sense of direction and purpose.

By listening attentively and patiently, the Counsellor can begin to perceive the difficulties from the client’s point of view and, therefore, can help them see things more clearly from a different perspective. Counselling can help enable choice or change or reduce confusion; however, it does not involve giving advice or directing a client to take a particular course of action. Counsellors do not judge or exploit their clients in any way but, above all, are there to listen.

In the counselling sessions, the client can explore various aspects of their lives and feelings by talking about them freely and openly in a rarely possible way with family or friends. For instance, bottled up feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief, and embarrassment can become very intense, and counselling offers an opportunity to explore the possibility of making them easier to understand.

The Counsellor will encourage the expression of feelings and, as a result of their training, will be able to accept and reflect on the clients problem without becoming burdened by them.

Acceptance and respect for the client are essentials for a Counsellor, and as the relationship develops, so too does the trust between the Counsellor and client, enabling the client to look at many aspects of their life, their relationships and in addition to themselves which they may not have considered or been able to face before. In conclusion the Counsellor may help to examine in detail the behaviour or situation which is proving troublesome and to find an area where it would be possible to initiate some change as a start. The Counsellor may help the client to look at the options open to them and help them to decide the best for them.