Frequently Asked Questions
I understand that seeking therapy can raise a lot of questions. Here are some common inquiries from my clients to help guide you through exploring counselling.
What can counselling help with?
Counselling can help and support clients with a variety of life issues including mental health and wellness, relationship problems, life transitions, processing trauma, making sense of challenges, developing better self esteem and self worth, understand themselves better.
What are the timings of sessions?
Counselling sessions with me are 50 minutes long. This duration allows for meaningful conversation and reflection without being too tiring.
Sessions are held on a weekly basis to provide a suitable amount of time to absorb what has been discussed and not leave clients feeling unsupported over longer timeframes. It also helps build a strong therapeutic relationship essential for therapy to be effective.
What is ethical practice?
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and I abide by their Ethical Framework.
BACP ethics are based on values, principles and personal moral qualities that underpin and inform the interpretation and application of our commitment to clients and good practice.
Can I have an initial call?
Yes.
Ensuring you feel able to speak to your counsellor and share your experiences with them before starting sessions, is an important part of finding a counsellor.
I offer a free, 20 minute initial call where you can share a bit about what is bringing you to counselling, have an opportunity to understand how I practice and hear what working with me would be like, and ask any questions you may have.
What type of counselling do you offer?
I am an integrative counsellor, which means that I am trained in multiple counselling theories and I am able to tailor my approach depending on my client's needs. Person-Centred counselling is at the core of my practice, it is generally recognised as an empowering therapy. Additional theories I use in my work are Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, Existential and Psycho-dynamic which all combine to provide a well rounded set of options to utilise in counselling. All these therapeutic approaches were developed during the beginning and middle middle of the 19th Century and although highly regarded and affective, we now know more about neurobiology and the importance of bottom up approaches (body and mind, rather than top down being more cognitive), because of this the more 'new age' therapeutic methodologies I incorporate into my work are Internal Family Systems, Polyvagal and Somatic therapies.
What should I expect in my first session?
At the beginning of our professional therapeutic relationship, I prioritize working through a comprehensive contract. This contract not only safeguards my clients but also establishes a clear understanding of our collaboration and how we will work together. It outlines essential elements such as confidentiality, legal limitations regarding its breach, protocols for any potential outside encounters, and payment terms for our sessions.
From there, I will hand over to you and ask for you to consider what you would like to talk about, and share things that feel safe to discuss during our first time of meeting.
I always like to give my clients some time at the end of sessions to orientate themselves before going back to their usual lives and I aim to notify you that we are coming to the end of a session with a couple of minutes left to summaries what we have been discussing and take some breaths if needed.