Whatever your age counselling can help with many issues including:
• Difficult life events such as bereavement, loss of a job
• Relationship problems such as domestic abuse, coercive control and/or breach of trust
• Unsettling or traumatic experiences whether these are recent or in the past
• Difficult emotions such as grief, sadness, confusion, anger
The evidence to show the long-term benefits of counselling is well documented but it’s effectiveness often depends on what you want help with, how well you get on with your therapist and your general feelings about therapy.
Counselling is talking to a trained professional about your thoughts, feelings and behaviour in a way that aims to give:
• You a safe time and place to talk to someone who won't judge you
• Help you make sense of things and understand yourself better
• Help you resolve complicated feelings, or find ways to live with them
• Help you recognise unhelpful patterns in the way you think or act and find ways to change them (if you want to).
80% of people seek counselling to help with depression or anxiety. These are wide categories covering people seeking help with low self-esteem, imposter syndrome, low confidence, panic attacks.
Depression is not just an emotional state; it is an illness that affects both the mind and body. Symptoms include persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, fatigue, anxiety, loss of interest in activities, and changes in sleep and appetite. If symptoms like these have persisted for two weeks or more, with little or no let-up, depression might be a likely diagnosis.
Counselling helps people explore what is or has happened to make them feel depressed and to find ways that will help them overcome their depressive feelings.
Anxiety often happens when we feel worried, tense, or afraid – particularly about things that are about to happen, or that we think could happen in the future.
Anxiety is a natural human response when we feel that we are under threat. It can be experienced through our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations.
Counselling helps people explore what is or has happened to make them feel depressed and to find ways that will help them overcome their depressive feelings.