A humanistic approach that focusses on how you perceive yourself consciously, rather than trying to interpret your unconscious thoughts and ideas.
CBT is a talking therapy that looks at your thoughts, feelings and behaviours to ultimately challenge and change them to improve how you feel.
Meditation practice focussing the mind on thinking and feeling in the present moment, to help us enjoy life more and understand ourselves better.
Person Centred Counselling takes a humanistic approach to how you perceive yourself consciously, rather than a counsellor analysing your unconscious behaviours and thoughts. It was founded in the 1940s by American psychologist Carl Rogers who believed that, given the right conditions, you can reach your full potential and become your 'true self', termed 'self-actualisation'. This process is innate and accessible to everyone.
Seeing your viewpoint as if I were you. I will work with you to understand your thoughts and experiences, and the feelings you experience as as result.
I will accept and value you, caring for you whilst allowing you to have your own feelings and experiences. This is professionally termed 'Unconditional Positive regard'.
I will always be honest and transparent reflecting how I experience you and your world. We will build a relationship based on trust and open communication.
Once you have made the decision to embark on counselling sessions with me, you'll be encouraged to bring your own issues to the session. The counselling is led by you and not directed by me.
Many clients, before they start the counselling process, believe that the counsellor will sort their problems out for them. As a person-centred counsellor, I will help you to explore your thoughts and feelings, beliefs, behaviours, and values, so you can become more self-aware and achieve greater independence.
I will offer you compassion and a safe space, valuing your unique experiences, enabling you to learn new tools and techniques to enhance relationships and make important life decisions with a new sense of empowerment and independence. After all, the counselling sessions are about you and not me!
I will not judge you, no matter what you bring to the session. Building a trustworthy relationship in which you can feel free and supported to disclose whatever is troubling you is imperative to the continued work we will do. Eventually the goal is to lead you to discover your own abilities and autonomy, so that you can cope with current and future problems in a more satisfying way.
Although not a purist CBT therapist, I incorporate a lot of CBT tools and approaches within my work, depending upon clients' individual needs.
CBT is a type of therapy that looks at your thoughts, feelings and behaviours and helps to challenge and change some of those in order to help manage your difficulties.
A key part of this is identifying the negative thinking patterns that you may feel trapped in, helping you to break free from these and to feel better. It focusses on providing you with the tools to address current problems in your life and relieve the symptoms you're facing, before making links to your past and how and where your beliefs started.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which provides guidance for the treatment of mental ill health in the NHS, recommends CBT for anxiety, depression, panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), health anxiety and schizophrenia. There are also CBT interventions for people struggling with anger issues, sleep problems, chronic fatigue and other long-term health conditions, such as diabetes, chronic pain and cancer.
CBT starts by looking at your automatic negative thoughts. We will explore your thoughts using CBT tools, helping you to identify the triggers, and look for evidence to support or dismiss them. We can also work on your Core Beliefs, learnt messages throughout your life, that may have influenced your beliefs that are accurate and positive, leading to you experiencing a better quality of life.
There are a variety of techniques used in CBT - including keeping thought records, feeling and emotions diaries to identify triggers, relaxation and breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, identifying and challenging your style of mindfulness. Engagement in the use of the tools (doing your homework) is essential to experience the full benefits of positive change.
Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgement. Practising Mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.
Spending too much time ruminating over problems, over planning, over thinking negative or random thoughts, and worrying can be draining. It can also make you more likely to experience stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. Practising Mindfulness exercises can help you direct your attention away from this kind of thinking and engage with the world around you. Mindfulness is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to prevent depression in people who have had 3 or more bouts of depression in the past.
There are many proven benefits to practising Mindfulness, and it has been studied in many clinical trials. The overall evidence supports the effectiveness of meditation for various conditions, such as stress, anxiety, pain, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure (hypertension) and chronic conditions such as CFS, fibromyalgia and asthma. Mindfulness can help you experience thoughts and emotions with greater balance and acceptance. It is shown to improve attention, decrease burnout, improve sleep and even improve diabetes control.
Simple Mindfulness practices can be done anytime and anywhere, but I will help to discover the exercises that suit you best.
It's hard to slow down and notice things in a busy world. Take time to experience your environment with all your senses: touch, sound, sight, smell and taste. For example, when you eat your favourite food, take the time to smell, taste and truly enjoy it, focussing on being present in the moment.
When you have negative thoughts, try to sit down, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Sitting and breathing for even just a minute can help. The benefits of mindful breathing are wide ranging, including reducing your heart rate.
Lie on your back with your legs extended and arms at your sides, palms facing up. Focus your attention slowly and deliberately on each part of your body, in order, from toe to head or head to toe. Be aware of any sensations, emotions or thoughts associated with each part of your body.
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