Counselling is a regular process so that both myself and the person I am working with, can make ongoing progress in their area(s)of choice.

A regular day and time of the week for the counselling session is usually worked towards, between us, so that we can rightly give full commitment to an issue and achieve insight into how a problem may currently be being maintained.

The counselling session, itself, lasts for one hour. The number of counselling sessions any one person may have, varies from individual to individual and is not prescriptive. Some people attend counselling for a short period of time, having entered into the counselling relationship with a clear knowledge of what they hope to achieve from this time and focus of work for their sessions. Other people may come to counselling having never previously spoken about what is affecting them and so wish to gain insight into themselves and their spoken problem for the very first time. This may require the counselling to continue for a longer period of time.

Within my counselling practice, there is no anticipated or expected number of sessions for a person to attend.

Within counselling, it is our shared responsibility to look for signs of movement and growth, along with areas of restriction and difficulty, and for us to decide what this means in relation to our sessions. Typically, review sessions are normally carried out on a regular basis for this very purpose and are provided for you to have the space to consolidate your needs from our work and to assess whether or not the continuation of the counselling approach I offer is appropriate. This is where we jointly assess progress and what further action, if any, may be needed. This is usually after a point of 6-8 sessions.

 

All counselling work is confidential *.

* Information about or from a client is not shared with a third party, except under the very exceptional circumstances when it is considered that not doing so would place the client and/or others at risk of their own or others' safety. A third party does not include a counsellor's regular supervision, which is received as part of my commitment to maintaining professional standards.

What is an Integrative Counsellor?

As an Integrative counsellor, I am committed to providing a high standard of professional practice which honours and respects the individual. Subsequently, I am a member of the professional body known as the BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists) and adhere to their code of practice and ethical standards.

Being an Integrative Counsellor means that rather than taking a 'one counselling fits all' approach to the work that I do with people, I work with you to explore change by drawing upon a range of different counselling approaches and theories in our work.

My humansitic-led background means that I place value in the therapeutic relationship between you, as client, and myself. It is in the context of the relationship that self-awareness and insight is explored as an initial vehicle for change - this occurs in response to shared thoughts, feelings (verbal and non-verbal) and behaviours that are demonstrated in the therapeutic relationship. As an integrative, humanistic-led counsellor, I encourage people to think about their feelings and take responsibility for their thoughts and actions. Self-development and client autonomy are a key feature of Humanistic Therapy and so are important to our work.

In terms of integration, I am able to use, where appropriate, approaches from:

- Gestalt Therapy

- Psychodynamic Therapy

- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

- Transactional Analysis (TA)

* Detailed information about the various theoretical approaches available in counselling and psychotherapy can be found at the following link:

www.bacp.co.uk/seeking_therapist/theoretical_approaches.php 

What can I expect from our first meeting?

Our first meeting is used as an initial consultation meeting, for you to explore what change you would like to make and for us to broadly understand how this might be developed through counselling, within the context of counselling approaches I am able to offer. If, at this stage, it is felt that we can proceed, a first counselling appointment is then made.