Counselling and psychotherapy has been traditionally known as the ‘talking cure’. Away from the pressures of everyday life, it enables a person to explore and confront any number of issues that are troubling them with a trained, professional, counsellor or therapist. The client and counsellor usually meet once weekly at a set time, and the relationship is a confidential one, where the counsellor offers support and non-judgemental listening, in order to help the client work to resolve the issue(s) that are troubling him/her.
What can counselling/psychotherapy help with?
People go to counselling and psychotherapy for many differing reasons. It may be that they are struggling to come to terms with a difficult bereavement, or that they are having difficulties in a particular relationship and things are deteriorating rather than improving. A person may be depressed or suffering from panic attacks or a variety of debilitating phobias. Alternatively, there may be long term problems with low self-esteem or feelings of low self worth that impair the person’s quality of life. A high level of personal stress or a life crisis can also be a reason why counselling is sought, and for some, it would be a wish to improve their relationships, or seek greater self-knowledge and insight to develop their potential.
How does counselling/psychotherapy work?
There are a number of different models of counselling and psychotherapy, all with slightly differing emphases on the way problems are tackled. The most common and popular models are Person Centred, Cognitive- Behavioural, and Psychodynamic. The core skills common to these approaches involve helping the client to both express the problem they are facing, explore in what ways they may be contributing to the maintenance of their problem and challenge these, and then discuss with the client alternative and creative ways of dealing with their problems, consistent with the clients own beliefs and values. Dependent on the counsellor’s own model of working, a variety of ways of achieving this will be pursued. The counsellor may explore the client’s feelings and attitudes and behaviour, and may seek to understand the history of such with the client. The client may be challenged to view their problem from a number of different angles, or to think about whether unconscious beliefs about themselves or others are central to their difficulties. The therapist may draw attention to the counselling relationship as a means of helping clarify how the clients difficulties emerge between them and help the client work that through. All this is offered sensitively and supportively, as the counsellor seeks to enable the client to work at their own pace to resolve the issues that trouble them.Qualifications & Training
Advanced Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling - Westminster Pastoral Foundation 1990.
Msc in Counselling Psychology - Surrey university 1993.Experience
Stuart Wilson has worked with over 300 clients (20,000+ counselling hours) in over 20 years using a number of differing counselling models according to the needs of the client. As a qualified lay minister, he is also used to working with spiritual and religious issues that often emerge in the counselling.Fees
These are discussed at a first session, but an average fee would be in the region of £40 per session. Reduced fees would be available by discussion.
Key words for this entry:
Couples, Individual Counselling, Adults, Elderly, Men, Women, Young, Home visits, Long-term, Short-term, Single sessions, Time-limited, Face-to-face, email, telephone, phone, Mentoring, Training/tutoring, Workshop, Concessionary rates, Abortion, Abuse, Aging, Anger, Anxiety, Attachment, Bereavement, Body image, Child Abuse, Commitment, Depression, Divorce, Separation, Gender, Identity, Loss, Self-esteem, Mental Health, Miscarriage, Postnatal Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Relationships, Self-confidence, Sexual Abuse, Sexuality, Spirituality, Stress, Suicide, Trauma, Workplace, Counselling, Existential, Humanistic, Integrative, Person-centred, Psychodynamic, Psychotherapy, Relaxation, Stress management. |
