The Counselling Journey
“The curious paradox is that when i accept myself just as i am, then i can change” - Carl Rogers
The First Steps
Once you have made the first step and reached out either via my website, or through my profile on Counselling Directory, we can agree a suitable time to have a 20-minute introductory session either over the phone or on a video call. During this conversation, we can explore what you are looking for from therapy and what you need from me as a therapist. If you would like to work with me, I can then arrange to send you a counselling agreement for you to look over and we can book our first session.
In the first session, we will look over the counselling agreement and check that you are comfortable with and understand the information within it. This will form the foundations of our professional work together. We can talk about what you would like to gain from therapy and how we might work together to get there. You may want to share with me what has brought you to therapy and what your individual needs are. Equally, you may not have a clear idea of what you want from counselling, in this case I can guide you to explore this based on your current situation.
The Theraputic Work
The approach that I use will be decided with you, this may include traditional talking therapy, integration of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) techniques, compassion focused, strengths based or a variety of other ways of working. I can explain why different approaches may be beneficial for you and we can agree a way of working that makes you feel comfortable and supported.
We will review the counselling work together regularly to ensure that we are still working towards relevant goals. Some people don’t want to set goals for therapy, that’s okay. We can review and check that you are still finding therapy helpful for your specific wants and needs. These reviews give us an opportunity to alter the course of the counselling journey if needed.
There is no set length of time to engage with counselling, some people feel that they need only a handful of sessions whereas others want to engage in longer term support.
Ending Therapy
Our aim in counselling is to work towards a point where you feel ready to step out on your own and embed some of the strategies and learning that we have explored together.
You may feel that you are ready to consider ending your counselling journey and we can talk about this during one of our review points. We can then come up with an appropriate phased ending to ensure that you feel confident to continue without my professional support.
The door is always open for further support if you feel you need it, just reach out and we can check in.