The counselling I provide for individuals and couples includes:

• Improving relationships;
• Support for young people;
• Problem solving, making decisions, change;
• General life and work related issues, motivation;
• Bereavement Support;
• Managing depression;
• Working with anxiety;
• Gender identity and sexual issues;
• Domestic and sexual abuse recovery;
• Personality ‘disorder’ therapy;
• Treatment for stress/anxiety, phobias, depression, anger, low self-esteem;
• Coping with health problems and age related issues;
• Trauma/complex trauma.

This list is not exhaustive. Although there are many labels for ‘mental health problems’, in general the underlying cause is almost always distress rather than illness.

Many people don’t like the idea of counselling: “I don’t need counselling, that’s for people who are mentally ill!” If you worry that people will think there is something wrong with you or that you are weak if you seek counselling, you are not alone. However, one in four of us experiences mental difficulties at some point in our lives. Approximately 10% of adults are depressed at any one time (NHS figures). Also, it is sometimes good just to be able to talk about life and direction freely with someone who will listen skilfully and who will not judge or give opinions.

If you have heart problems or diabetes, or even a bad cold, you are not made to feel guilty and you expect to get treatment – and no-one thinks twice. So when our minds are strained by the challenges of life, is it not sensible to get help?

We often take fitness advice and go to the gym to improve our physical health; doesn’t it make sense to exercise our minds too? Counselling is helpful too for people who simply want to ‘tone up’ their thinking, or work through complex issues.

If you are wondering what is the difference between a Psychotherapist and a Counsellor, this is at present determined not by the techniques used, but the level of training. The BACP allows all Members to decide which title to use, though Psychotherapists are generally qualified to a higher level.

My core method of counselling is ‘Person-Centred’ or ‘Humanistic’, based on the principles set out by Carl Rogers and since extensively developed and researched by many others. I extend this approach using various methods that I have studied, trained in, and practiced over time, by agreement with my clients. The purpose of this approach is to recognise that we are all different and no one method will be best for everyone.