Counselling, or talk therapy, is a way to help you with a wide variety of mental health and emotional challenges. Counselling can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so you can function better, increase your feeling of well-being, and begin your recovery journey.
Counselling helps with issues such as coping with daily life; the impact of trauma, medical illness or loss, like the death of a loved one; and specific mental health issues, like depression, trauma, PTSD, obsessive thoughts, or anxiety.
Counselling sessions are typically held once a week for 50 minutes. Clients share personal feelings and thought in an open and supportive environment.
Counselling can be short-term (a few sessions), dealing with immediate issues, or long-term (months), dealing with long-standing and more complex issues.
apply a variety of counselling approaches and adapt the strategy to fit the needs of each of my clients. I've found the following approaches highly effective in my work with clients:
Client-Centred Therapy is a process of freeing a person and removing obstacles so that healthy growth and development can proceed, and the client can become independent and self-directed. The Client-Centred approach to therapy operates with the assumption that we are all positive, caring, and trustworthy. I apply the concept of unconditional positive regard, and I believe that all clients, no matter what the problem, can improve without being taught anything specific by the therapist, once they and respect themselves. All the resources all lie within the client.
Narrative therapy is a form of counselling that focuses on the client’s life narratives. Stories can be a powerful negative or positive influence on the way people see themselves and their lives. I collaborate with clients to empower them to step away from problem-saturated or oppressive stories and begin to explore untold stories where their intentions, hopes, values, desires, and dreams have room to thrive.
Gestalt therapy is an existential or experiential form of counselling and therapy that emphasizes personal responsibility and the experience in the present moment. The Gestalt approach explores the present moment for the client in the therapist-client relationship, their environment, and the social contexts in the client's life. Exploring the self-regulating adjustments clients make to adapt and respond to their life situation is a core element of Gestalt therapy.
The cognitive approach aims to improve mental health by addressing both thoughts and emotions. The focus is on challenging and changing unhelpful and unwanted thoughts and behaviours, improving emotional regulation, and the development of personal coping strategies that target solving current problems. The cognitive approach is a proven to assist clients in recovering from trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Why Counselling Might Be Right For You?
If you identify with any of these, I can help you. We will work together on making meaningful and long-lasting changes, so you can start living the life you have always envisioned.