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Counselling
Associated Therapists
Louise Nyajooko
Katie Watkins
Utas Das
Counselling is a talking therapy in which a person experiences complete amnesty from the hubbub of ordinary life. This is a quiet place, a place of safety, a private space where no-one limits or judges. In this time there is a freedom to explore, express and examine as much or as little of their thoughts, feelings and concerns as they choose. Most importantly to know that their confidentiality is assured at all times.
WHAT TO EXPECT
- A quiet soundproof room with just the counsellor and the client.
- The counsellor will make a verbal contract of confidentiality with the client, and explain that the only reasons EVER for breaking this would statements of harm made by the client towards either themselves or others.
- The counsellor will explain also that they work with a supervisor, but the client's identity is never revealed. The reason being to keep the counsellor within sensible guidelines, and to offer possible further avenues for discussion. In this way the client actually gets two for the price of one!
- The counsellor will spend some time taking the client's contact details and choice of contact should the need arise.
- The final part of the initial contact will be to go briefly back through all that has been said so that it is clear that the client has understood, and to offer the opportunity for questions.
THE COUNSELLOR'S ROLE
The counsellor's role is to generate sufficient trust and confidence to enable their client to think deeply and honestly about their reasons for seeking help. The 'talking about' for some people may happen quite quickly; and for others, where feelings or events may have been buried in memory for a long period of time, the process may take more effort.
At all times the counsellor must enter the client's own world of experience and viewpoint, yet retain enough distance to feed back and summarise their words. In doing this counsellor creates a clarity in which the client hears themselves more accurately, and has the ability to develop a sense of order out of a jumble of emotion, memory and thought. Working together in this way there is then the opportunity to tease out the strands of a problem, however diverse, and turn them into manageable discussions.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
A counsellor offers no advice or solutions to a decision or a problem, but by the process of discussion the client is able to gain sufficient confidence to access their own. In this way they reclaim ownership of their decision making processes.
If the reason for counselling is one of 'coming to terms with' there are no magic wands. Many people feel that "I'm an adult and should be able to handle this by myself", and in doing so put up a barrier that allows no grieving process. Opening up, and being assured of the counsellor's understanding, allows a client to give themselves permission to feel the way they do, and in this constructive sharing and expressing of emotions the healing process can begin.
Very importantly the client must be assured:
- Should the therapeutic relationship fail for whatever reason, a mismatch of personalities, a change of location, the need for a more specialist approach - a referral would be sought. They would never be left high and dry.
- Should the need for further discussion arise they would always be welcome to return.
