Psychotherapeutic Counselling

working with your present and your past

Psychotherapeutic Counselling is about change. It may be that something has changed and you are having difficulty adjusting to it, it may be that you want to make a change in the life you are leading, or it may be that you want to change the influence that your past is having on your present. Whatever it is - change is almost always uncomfortable!

Very often a new client says ‘I never thought I would end up coming to see someone like you! I have always been strong!’ Anybody who chooses to come to see me is saying ‘I am asking you to help me with a problem’. To do that, I believe, takes courage. Most of us have times when we struggle with something, and sometimes these are things that we can’t talk about with the people we are closest to. They may even be part of the ‘problem’! It can be helpful to talk to someone who is not personally involved with us. Sometimes a trained professional can offer the support and help that we need.

Psychotherapeutic Counselling depends on forming a partnership and our first meeting will give us a chance to assess each other and get some idea of how we might work together. Work may be short-term (anything from 1 to 12 one hour meetings) or longer-term (in excess of 12 meetings). Often working with the ‘present’ is shorter-term work than working with the ‘past’.

For example, if you have a car accident you may find that you get anxious every time you get back in a car, and you may find it difficult to drive the same route again. You may not be able to remember everything about the accident, but you can describe what driving is, what was happening before the accident and from some point after. You want to deal with the effects of this traumatic experience so that you can begin to manage the anxiety and regain your confidence. I would describe this as working with the present.

However, if you experience recurring anxiety that you find hard to describe and you really don’t know why, it may well be connected with your much earlier life, and you want to gain insight and understanding about why you are feeling this way. You may then be able to deal with the anxiety. I would describe this as working with the past and the present.

I think it is important that we reflect on the work regularly to check that it is helping you and it will be your decision when the time comes for it to end.

I am trained to work integratively which means that I have a tool box of therapeutic skills to use. I will move between them as we work to suit your need and the issues we are addressing. The models I am most likely to draw on are: Person Centred, Solution-focussed, Cognitive Behavioural, Transactional Analysis and Psychodynamic.

I am registered with both CPC and UKCP and information about both of these organizations can easily be found on the Internet. Both registrations require me to update my knowledge and skill with at least 30 hours of continuing professional development each year. I have completed in excess of 70 hours each year for the past 10 years!

No amount of training will give me a magic wand to sort out your problems for you but I bring experience, energy and enthusiasm to my work. If we can form a good partnership, a good ‘therapeutic alliance’, then together we may bring about understanding, healing and change.