What counselling can do:

• Encourage individuals and couples to explore, understand and take appropriate action on a variety of problems brought to counselling.
• Enable couples to find new ways to communicate, understand each other and resolve relationship difficulties.
• Support couples or individuals though a process of change.
• Help couples or individuals make sense of their circumstances.

What to expect:

At the initial assessment session we will discuss what you would expect from counselling, what I can offer, along with an explanation of and any limits to confidentiality.

If, after your initial session, you decide to continue with counselling, sessions are usually weekly and sessions are fifty minutes long.

How do I judge the counsellor’s qualifications?

Most counsellors will state on their website or promotional literature that they are a member of a professional organisation and that they operate to a set of ethical guidelines set by that organisation. If the counsellor is accredited by their professional body this guarantees adequate training, a minimum level of experience, their work will be supervised, amongst other requirements. I am accredited by BACP.

How many counselling sessions will it take?

This very much depends on the reason you are choosing to undertake counselling and should be discussed at the initial assessment. As a general rule you could be offered either brief (time-limited) therapy or open ended counselling. A rough guide is as follows:

• Brief therapy offers a fixed number of sessions – I would suggest 10 – and can be useful if you are looking to solve a specific current problem. This does not tie you to a fixed number of sessions, you may feel your issues are resolved sooner or you may benefit from a more open ended approach if you find there are more complex underlying problems. This will be open to review and discussion but is ultimately your decision.
• Open ended counselling is usually more beneficial where there are multiple issues, or where the issues go back over time. But again, regular review ensures that you and I can monitor progress and make any adjustments necessary.

Face to face counselling (as opposed to on-line or phone counselling) sessions usually last 50 minutes and tend to be weekly but this is open to discussion.

Does counselling work for everyone?

No, counselling can be a difficult process and it may be that it isn’t the right time to undertake this but that can be discussed to ensure that the choice to continue or end therapy is right for you.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask when you make contact.