Counselling and Psychotherapy
Why Counselling?
Counselling is a confidential process which can help you explore openly, at your own pace, issues weighing you down. Often the act of allocating time and space to hear yourself think out loud in a non-judgemental way enables you to reflect in different ways, leading to new pathways and possibilities.
There are many forms and individual styles of counselling so when you are choosing it is good to be offered an initial consultation. You may find the words 'counselling' and 'psychotherapy' are used interchangeably by different therapists; The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (www.bacp.co.uk) has a list of registered members and a helpful checklist for choosing a therapist.
How Counselling differs from Therapeutic Coaching?
My differential between counselling and therapeutic coaching relates to goal setting and attainment.
Coaching is a focused conversation; we agree the topic and outcome at the beginning of each session. If you get side-tracked my role is to support you to get back on track. To accelerate results, we agree homework for you to complete inbetween sessions, aiming to learn from taking specific action.
In counselling, while we agree overall aims and outcome measures, and can reveiw our work at any time, during individual sessions I support you to speak freely, enabling new and meaningful connections to be made over time.
How Counselling differs from Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a longer and more in-depth process than counselling. At its core is an understanding of the importance of relationships to human growth and development throughout life. Secure and supportive relationships enable us to develop a sense of who we are. When we feel alone, or relationships go wrong in childhood or adulthood, our ability to manage our lives may be disrupted or even thrown into crisis.
So psychotherapy gives you an opportunity to experience a relationship where it feels safe enough to explore fears, mourn losses and create informed choices.
Whilst there is no such thing as a 'typical' session, the psychotherapy is likely to involve a conversation that encourages curiosity in any aspects of your self that you might struggle to express and, where appropriate, makes use of the arts, creativity and the imagination to support this journey.
Why use the Arts?
The arts offer an expressive language, deepening and enhancing the work of talking therapies. This is helpful when it is difficult to articulate what the problem might be.
No special skill or ability such as "being good at art" is required and I fully support you in finding confidence in using the materials available. The benefit can be far-reaching because we are able to access those parts of our brain connected with emotions, memories and non-verbal language. This provides a safe and contained way to process feelings, enabling new insights and different perspectives.
The materials we can use include paying attention to non-verbal body language, natural objects such as stones and shells, sandtray, postcards, music, poetry, clay, paint and pastels. You are also welcome to bring in your own art forms which have personal significance.
For enquiries and to book an initial consultation call Carole on 0781 491 2751 or email.