To compliment my latest YouTube video with the same title (Link to video), I will be briefly outlining what Counselling it, how the different approaches to Counselling affect your experience and how to find the best Therapist for you.
Counselling, in short, is a space to talk to a trained professional about any issues that you might be facing. There are no issues that might be too big or too small for a trained Counsellor.
Counselling is all about what matters to you, so Counselling is used for anything you wish to talk about and overcome any issues that you may be facing.
Different Approaches to Counselling
There are many different approaches to Counselling that will change your experience of Counselling dramatically. On one side of the scale, you have something like CBT, which is directive, the Therapist will be very much in control of the session and will set you tasks and homework.
On the other side of the scale, there are approaches like Person-centred, which is non-directive and you are in control of the sessions. With a person-centred Counsellor, you decide what to talk about, what to use the sessions for and what your focus will be. It is a space with much more freedom and autonomy.
There are also many different approaches inbetween these two. Hopefully, you can see by this, that the approach that the Counsellor uses will vastly impact your experience and the success of the Therapy.
As well as there being many different approaches to Counselling, every Counsellor is different too. It is important that a Counsellor is genuine and personal, not a professional who is a blank slate. For this reason, the personality of your Counsellor and how you feel with them is of great importance.
This will obviously have a large impact on your experience of Counselling. It is important to find a Counsellor that you feel comfortable with, that you trust and you feel is offering a good service to you. Trust your judgment on this one. Just because the Counsellor is a trained professional, does not mean that you have to feel okay about how they work.
Take some time to make the most of free initial sessions with Counsellors to find the right one for you.
In summary…
You should be able to find websites and information on each Counsellor you are considering seeing. There should be plenty of information about each individual Counsellor here and there will also be plenty of opportunities to ask any questions you have during your initial contact with the Therapist or during your sessions.
I hope this brief article and the video below will answer any questions you have about What is Counselling. Also, what to expect in your work and how to find the right Therapist for you. If there are any questions you still have, then please leave a comment below and I will answer them for you.
I have also provided some links below the video to help you find a Therapist and also some further information.
If you are currently looking for a Counsellor, here are some helpful websites:
https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk
https://www.bacp.co.uk/search/Therapists
and some helpful webpages: