What Is Counselling?

The BACP is the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherpists. Their definition of counselling is as follows:

Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. It is always at the request of the client as no one can properly be ‘sent’ for counselling.

By listening attentively and patiently the counsellor can begin to perceive the difficulties from the client’s point of view and can help them to see things more clearly, possibly from a different perspective. Counselling is a way of enabling choice or change or of reducing confusion.  It does not involve giving advice or directing a client to take a particular course of action. Counsellors do not judge or exploit their clients in any way.

In the counselling sessions the client can explore various aspects of their life and feelings, talking about them freely and openly in a way that is rarely possible with friends or family. Bottled up feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief and embarrassment can become very intense and counselling offers an opportunity to explore them, with the possibility of making them easier to understand. The counsellor will encourage the expression of feelings and as a result of their training will be able to accept and reflect the client’s problems without becoming burdened by them.

My view of counselling

Counselling gives you the opportunity to talk in confidence to someone about your concerns. I will listen to you and by doing this enable you to share your thoughts and feelings with someone else, then working through them will help you to cope with the situation you find yourself in.

Counselling isn’t about being told what to do to solve a problem. It is more of an opportunity for you to try and understand yourself and your situation better and then be able to move forward. If you decide to change anything about yourself or your life, then it will be because you want to.

Counselling can help you to get in touch with your feelings and enable you to come to terms with them. It aims to help you to feel more empowered, with the focus being you. After a bereavement or any other life event, some of these feelings may be very strong or feel overwhelming at times. As your counsellor I will support you and enable you to cope.