Psychotherapy and Counselling

People often ask what is the difference between Psychotherapy and Counselling. It is often written that Psychotherapy tends to be a longer term process and Counselling a shorter term one focusing on a specific issue. There is some truth in this but I don’t find it necessarily helpful to make the distinction – it’s more about working for the time and depth that the person needs rather than what it’s called. I work with people for any length of time.

It may be possible to identify a specific issue to explore however sometimes it isn’t as straightforward as this and the unresolved issues aren’t clear. Instead we experience symptoms, distressing conditions or ways of being that are causing us difficulties e.g. low mood, anxiety, feeling bad about ourselves (low self-esteem), uncontrollable emotions, flashbacks, failing relationships, a sense of hopelessness or a feeling of being lost in the world.

Individual Psychotherapy and Counselling

All of us have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACE) to some extent because it’s impossible for any upbringing to be perfect. In order to survive and manage these as young people we each developed strategies (creative adjustments) which have become our particular style of relating, thinking, feeling and behaving. These build our resilience to life but sometimes these once useful strategies have themselves become the problem and be getting in the way of leading a fulfilling life. Becoming more aware of these in a trusted and safe relationship with a therapist and trying out new ways of being is the start of making long lasting changes.

I like to meet for an initial session to give you the chance to see if you think what I have to offer is right for you. It also gives me the opportunity to start to understand what you are looking for. If we decided to continue working together, I usually suggest a series of six sessions, review how we are doing and see where we go from there.

‘Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well’
Petra Chodron from ‘Comfortable with Uncertainty’