About Psychotherapy and Counselling
People often want to know what the difference is between 'Counselling' and 'Psychotherapy'.
Whilst both practices aim to help you enhance your life, Counselling tends to be shorter (typically around 6 sessions) and tends to focus more on techniques you can apply to help you manage life better. Psychotherapy tends to be a longer process where root causes of current feelings and/or behaviours are explored and made conscious. The process takes more time and allows for change 'from the inside out'.
This distinction is not always clear cut and some people work with their counsellors for a long time and at great depth.
Whichever you choose, the most important is the relationship you have with your therapist. It is quite alright and even advisable that you 'shop around', meet various therapists until you find the one you feel truly comfortable with.
What to expect?
I offer a free first meeting and whatever gets discussed is confidential, which is the same for all sessions. You might want to talk about what brought you here and you can also ask anything you are unsure about or simply would like to know more about with regards to my work.
If you decide to carry on, we would meet every week on the same day at the same time. We would either decide on a number of sessions beforehand, which can be extended, or we would work open-ended from the start. You can always decide to end therapy at any time. The advice is to allow for a few sessions to do the ending well, particularly if we have developed a strong bond over some time.
What I offer?
The therapy I offer is primarily a person-centred talking therapy. This means you talk and I listen. However dull this may sound it is actually a very dynamic process. I am a very active listener, I ask questions and where appropriate I offer my thinking. At times, always in agreement, we may choose to use techniques like relaxation, imagery, mindfulness and a 'listening-to-the-body' practice which comes from a technique called 'focusing'.
