Briscombe Care

Counselling

There are many definitions of counselling. Counselling means different things to different people. One simple version is that counselling is a working relationship in which you are helped to explore and manage what is happening in your life.

The overall aim of counselling is to provide an opportunity for you to work towards a more satisfying and resourceful experience of life. Naturally, each person's needs are different.

Why Counselling?

People enter into counselling for a wide variety of reasons:

• stress: a common issue. Heavy workload, keeping up with change, either professional or personal. Such situations can be considerably improved by early counselling
• conflict at work: with a difficult department head
• bereavement: whether the death of someone close, or the effects of bereavement on a loved one
• depression: a common and very preventable illness often responds well to counselling if undertaken promptly
• loss of confidence or motivation
• health problems: coping with poor health or that of a loved one.

Counselling can help us come to terms with these kinds of specific issues and the many others that we may face on a daily basis. Counsellors can help us to understand our situations, review the options and decide upon actions. People often find that knowing they have a plan they have considered carefully from all angles improves self-confidence and optimism about the future.

Counsellors have helped people to make important changes in their lives, but equally have helped people to live more creatively with situations that cannot easily be changed. Some clients find that the ability to discuss their difficulties openly with someone they can trust is sufficient reason on its own to enter counselling; just explaining things to someone impartial can often clarify the situation.

Counselling will be a specific arrangement between you and your counsellor. It will be entirely private. Counselling is not about making judgements. The counsellor will accept you whoever you are, regardless of status, lifestyle or whatever the issues you face.

Counselling works best as a partnership. It helps if you can get along with, or even like, your counsellor. Chemistry can matter, but it is more important that you trust and respect him or her. The partnership with your counsellor begins as soon as you make contact. Good counsellors help you to explain what is important to you; they ask questions and, naturally, they will listen a great deal to begin with.

Your counsellor will often clarify, reflect comments back to you and encourage further exploration so that you both develop an accurate picture of the situation. By looking at a situation from a fresh perspective, we often discover new possibilities.

You will find yourself encouraged to talk, to think and also to listen. Counselling is an interactive, two-way process. You do not have to tell the counsellor everything about you and your life, but you should be honest with your counsellor. It is better to say that you prefer not to talk about a specific issue than to be misleading or to deny that the issue exists. Counsellors are trained to avoid imposing their own view and answers to your situation. They are there to help you to realise your own potential and find the solution that works best for you.

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Please click below to learn more about:

• Low self-esteem
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Mild to moderate depression
• Bereavement

Counselling By Telephone

Telephone counselling can be as supportive and productive as a face-to-face relationship. The main difference between the two approaches is that body language is not a factor when working on the telephone. This need not detract from the process and may indeed prove supportive. This is because distractions are minimised, which helps increased concentration and focus. Thus telephone counselling can work faster than traditional therapeutic encounters. Furthermore, working with a counsellor on the telephone can enable you to feel more able to express yourself freely due to the increased sense of anonymity.

Counselling By Email

Email counselling can prove as effective as both face-to-face and telephone counselling, but it is different again. It relies on the written word and there is a delay in response times. Your counsellor may ask you more questions than usual in order to support their understanding of your issues. You do not have to answer these questions if you do not wish to, however the process does rely on you giving appropriate information to enable productive work to take place. Your counsellor will also support you to work on issues between sessions by giving you a variety of tasks and exercises. Using this medium you will do a lot of the work yourself, guided and supported throughout the process by your counsellor.

For further information, either telephone 0 333 444 555 0 or email info@briscombecare.com