What is Counselling and Psychotherapy?
Counselling/psychotherapy offers you a safe and confidential place to explore aspects about your life and anything that may be confusing, painful or uncomfortable or even what you are curious about. It lets you to talk with someone who is trained to listen carefully and can help you change things. A therapist will not tell you what to do or judge you, but always try to understand things from your point of view, and support you to find your own voice in this.
What is Online therapy and how does it work?
Video and telephone counselling became normalised during the pandemic and have remained important alternatives for catering for a broader range of client needs ever since. Online and telephone counselling are options which are subjected to the same safeguarding principles for client confidentiality and safety as in-person sessions.
Counselling or Psychotherapy?
People often ask “what the difference is between a Counsellor and a Psychotherapist?” Generally speaking a Psychotherapist has had a longer and more in depth training and would be considered to work at greater depth with clients. In reality, many counsellors would say that they work with the complexity of issues that a psychotherapist works with and many Psychotherapists would consider themselves to provide counselling as part of their work.
What is important is that you feel comfortable and safe with your psychotherapist or counsellor and are able to form an alliance with them where you can explore the issues you wish to look at.
How does counselling and therapy work and is it an instant cure?
Different people will get different results from their therapy experience and experiencing change will mean different things for different people. Recent studies from the International Centre For Clinical Excellence showed that 80% of clients in Counselling and Therapy end up better off than those who didn’t seek help. It usually takes some time for you to become aware of changes and improvements in your life, and sometimes counselling and therapy can make feelings worse at the beginning, but you will always be in a safe place at the end of your session.
How long is an individual counselling session & how many will I need?
Counselling or therapy sessions are 50 minutes long, and usually weekly. The number of sessions is something that you decide in consultation with your counsellor and will be dependent on the issues you want to work on and what your goals and expectations are. Therapy duration is reviewed regularly as well as how the work is going and whether your aims are still the same.
Can I end my sessions when I want?
The client is in control of when they want to end their therapy however, therapeutically speaking, ideally this would be decided in collaboration with the counsellor/therapist.
What does the start of counselling/therapy look like?
When you start therapy/counselling, there is typically a consultation/ assessment session before you begin. This provides time to get to know the counsellor/therapist a little better, ask questions, and raise any concerns you may have. Typically, your therapist will ask what you hope to get out of therapy or why you are looking to talk to a counsellor and ask a little background information about you and discuss the working agreement with you. This will concern things including confidentiality, means of communication and online safety, what you need to do if you want to cancel a session, fees etc.
What is the formal framework behind your services?
As a small group of counsellors/therapists we all hold:
- Qualifications at Post Graduate level
- Membership and (senior) accredited status of BACP/UKCP Professional Bodies with Ethical Frameworks
- Personal, Professional Liability Insurance
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) registration
