Counselling Helps You Meet Life's Challenges

The problem may not only be what’s happening outside, but something happening inside too – how you feel, your past conditioning and what’s running through your mind.

As Rumi says, “We rarely hear the inward music, but we are all dancing to it nevertheless.”

That ‘inner music’ can be happy or full of pain, jealous or angry or anything else between.

What inner music could counselling help you with? 

• Confusion
  Perhaps a great slew of thoughts and feelings are piling up inside you. Perhaps you don’t know how you think or feel or sometimes you think one thing and then the opposite. 
• Worry and Anxiety
  You’re anxious about the state of the world, or the environment, or justice and equality. Or politics. Or something more personal, like money or a job or a relationship.
• Embarrassment or Shame
  You can’t bear how you behave or look or feel. Perhaps you even feel like you ‘can’t do life’.
• Depression
  Who knows exactly why you feel this way, yet still you do. It might be because of what’s happened recently. Or it could be because of events much earlier in your life. Whatever the cause, you find it hard to get up and face each day. 

So how exactly will counselling help you?

When you come to counselling, you’ll find a safe space in which to explore what’s troubling you. You’ll have someone there with you to support you as you ‘process’ what’s going on now in your life or what happened in the past. Someone who won’t judge you for being you. Who won’t offer easy solutions or tell you what you ‘should’ do. Someone who keeps your confidences. Someone who has experience and expertise. Someone who won’t be overwhelmed even when you’re totally honest. 

Owning the truth, can be hard. But it is the beginning of change.

Over time, counselling can help you – 

• heal elements of the past that were troubling you
• find clarity and feel lighter
• be more confident
• realise that you can do life, as well as anybody else
• feel happier with who you are

My Counselling Experience

It’s over 25 years since I first trained in counselling. I’m a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, which regulates counselling practice in the UK. I am also accredited by them, which means I’ve reached a good level of training and counselling experience. I’m listed in the BACP Register.

You can read more about my experience and qualifications as a counsellor here.    

My Approach to Counselling

There are many different types of counselling and psychotherapy and when you just want some help, it can be confusing. I always aim to do what works best for you. This may include using specific techniques, for example Mindfulness and CBT,  though my basic therapeutic approach is ‘person-centred’.

Person-centred therapy was started by Carl Rogers back in the 1950s. Carl Rogers saw counselling as a partnership (rather than a doctor-patient relationship) in which therapist and client work together for change and growth. He put forward the idea, which is commonly accepted today, that it’s the good therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client, which is the essential cornerstone on which successful therapy is built.

“When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard.” – Carl Rogers, the founder of person-centred counselling.

This kind of counselling is based on equality, trust and acceptance. It means that counselling is a safe space to express what you can’t talk about anywhere else, or have been unable to express before. Each counselling session is a chance to explore how you feel, to work out why things are as they are and to see what needs to be different. You may notice patterns that repeat themselves in your life. Together we’ll look at both the recent past and much further back, so that you can understand your life better. Then you can work out what new choices you want to make and take action to improve your life.   

Some Testimonials

I know from my experience as a counsellor (and also as a counselling client) that counselling really works. But you don’t need to take my word for it. Here are a few testimonials I’ve received from former clients. 

“Counselling with Stephen gently challenged my thoughts and preconceptions …It helped me greatly and led me to changes that I otherwise would not have had the energy or courage to make.”  – Ann

“Working with Stephen…changed my life to the point where I was able to achieve things I’d previously thought unimaginable. In the most thoughtful, caring and approachable manner, Stephen allowed me to open up and explore complex thoughts and experiences leading back to my early childhood, with patience and empathy. I credit the work we did together very highly and would recommend Stephen to anyone seeking help processing difficult life experiences.” – James

“I started seeing Stephen because I was at a low point, unhappy with myself and my work life and weary of feeling the way I did.  Counselling made a huge difference. My time seeing Stephen has helped me to understand myself better – in particular, what I find satisfying and what really makes me happier.” – Kate

“Counselling with Stephen has been literally life-changing for me. I no longer experience fear, anxiety or panic attacks (as I did, for years, on a daily basis). What I do experience now, as an underlying thread, is a real, palpable, regained joy in my life.” – Philippa

“I started counselling with Stephen as my anxieties were holding me back both professionally and in my personal life…I felt truly muddled and helpless. In our sessions Stephen helped me to explore my thoughts and feelings and understand them so that I could see life in a new and positive way. Thanks for all your help Stephen.” – Joe

“I now have a ‘superpower’ of being able to recognise when I am letting stress or anxiety take over, and while that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen – I’m now able to, with Stephen’s tools and words of wisdom, navigate my stresses way more than I ever thought I could. Stephen is also very clever at guiding me towards reaching my own conclusions and there have been several breakthrough moments where I’ve uncovered the reasons, causes and consequences behind some of the biggest worries in my life. Genuinely life changing.” Ben