Counselling and psychotherapy can be helpful for a wide range of difficulties such as:
- depression
- relationship problems
- stress
- anxiety/panic attacks
- low self-esteem
- eating problems
- sexual problems
- bereavement and loss
- trauma resulting from accident, assault or abuse.
FAQs
Are all counsellors qualified?
Under current regulations anyone can set themselves up as a psychotherapist or counsellor and charge patients for consultations. This leads to a wide variation in the level of competence and expertise available.
There are, however, professional organisations with recognised codes of ethics and practice who can give you a list of qualified counsellors. The websites listed on the right can help.
What will counselling mean for me?
Counselling is different from other forms of help. It is focused on helping you clarify the issues about which you are troubled. This will involve you in exploring those issues in private with someone who is trained to listen and has no other role in your life. Through this confidential process, your counsellor will be seeking to enable you to clarify your thoughts and feelings.
Counselling is a positive process, which is often associated with times of personal crisis. It may involve talking about painful parts of your life and therefore, you may feel worse before you feel better! It is also a very effective way of developing personal potential.
There are many different types of counselling. You may find it useful to talk to more than one at first to find out how they work. You can then decide who and what treatment you think will suit you best. Some GPs have a counselling service attached to their practice. Ask at your surgery or health centre for more details.