Should you start therapy?
If you are experiencing repeated emotional issues that are having a negative impact on your wellbeing and are interfering with your day-to-day life, it’s important you get help. You can speak with someone you trust, discuss it with your GP or it might be that you could benefit from seeing a therapist.
However, you don’t need to be in crisis, hit a ‘rock bottom’, or have a diagnosed mental health condition in order to start a therapy. There might be something troubling you at the moment, you might be feeling stuck, or you need some guidance with certain areas of your life such as your relationships, self-esteem or issues from your past that have re-surfaced.
Being in therapy is not a sign of weakness and isn’t anything to be ashamed about. It is important that you treat yourself seriously and ask for support so that you can get back on track.
What happens first?
After our initial contact, we will arrange a session, either in person or on-line as soon as possible.
Our first session is about getting to know each other. It will be a space for you to ask questions you may have about me or the therapy process. We will explore what brings you to counselling and your goals and desires for our work. This includes creating a working agreement with you, to clarify fees, times of sessions and confidentiality. This session is an opportunity for you to decide if you are comfortable working with me and for me to find out if I am the appropriate therapist for you.
Everyone is unique. There is no one-size-fits all therapy and duration will depend on the issue you bring and what you wish to get out of therapy. The usual practice is to make a commitment of 6 or 12 sessions, and then review our work together. This may be a sufficient number of sessions or you may then decide to continue on an open-ended basis.
Our work is private and confidential. I follow the BACP Ethical Framework (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy).
Is therapy effective?
Therapy can help you with many difficult problems, from coping with traumatic experiences to help you with a wide range of emotional, relationship or work-related issues.
It may at first feel difficult to seek out therapy - for various reasons - but the benefits of successful therapy are literally life-changing. The effects of therapy are greater than the effects of many medical practices.