What I can help with:
I provide one to one counselling, also known as talking therapy. Talking Therapy can be helpful in a wide range of situations and life issues, please click on the links below to find out more about:
Bereavement
Bereavement affects people in different ways. Some people get angry, some people withdraw into themselves and some people become completely numb and begin to feel depressed.
There's no right or wrong way to feel when grieving however, talking and sharing your feelings with someone can help. Bereavement counselling tries to help people find a place for their loss so they can carry on with life and eventually find acceptance.
Anxiety/Stress
Anxiety is part of our body’s natural defences – a reaction to feeling under threat, which dates back to our caveman days, known as the ‘fight or flight’ response. But for some people, the feeling of anxiety doesn’t go away and can start to get in the way of their day-to-day life.
Typical symptoms such as panic, fear, and uneasiness occur, and it can also cause sleep problems. Physical symptoms such as cold, sweaty, numb or tingling hands or feet may occur, shortness of breath. heart palpitations a dry mouth and nausea. Talking therapies is just one of the methods that can help to control anxiety.
Panic Attacks
Symptoms of a panic attack can be similar to those associated with anxiety but a panic attack involves sudden feelings of terror that strike without warning.
Panic attacks can happen during the day or night. Some people have one panic attack then don't ever experience another. There maybe certain places, situations or activities that seem to trigger a panic attack.
Panic attacks can be frightening, but there are things that can be done to help cope.
Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse can occur in a domestic setting in any relationship, regardless of age, gender, status, background and culture. Being a victim of domestic abuse means being controlled by the person we are in relationship with.
Domestic abuse includes a range of behaviours such as:
- Physical violence, Emotional, psychological and mental, sexual, financial, verbal, religious and spiritual, stalking and harassment.
The therapeutic process of counselling can help to rebuild our mental strength and lift low self-esteem. It helps in dealing with feelings of shame, guilt and confusion, which then enables us to protect ourselves and act against the abuse.
Depression
Depression can be described as a prolonged state of low mood and aversion to activity that can negatively affect our thoughts, behaviour and feelings.
Depressed mood might be precipitated by life changes and events such as childbirth, menopause, medical diagnosis, financial problems, unemployment, relationship problems, divorce, grief, loss, bullying and/or prolonged stress.
Counselling can help with those life changing events. Talking about them enables us to change our view on them and the way we think about them. As a result, we might find new ways of dealing with depression and low mood.
Low self-esteem
Low self-esteem can be characterised by feeling and thinking negatively about oneself resulting in a lack of confidence. People with low self-esteem may experience thoughts such as “nobody likes me”, or “I am stupid”. This way of thinking affects our choices and decisions. We fear change and avoid it. Over time, low self-esteem can reduce quality of life; it might even lead to depression and anxiety.
Counselling can help challenge these thoughts and the reasons behind them, changing the way we view ourselves. Raising our own self esteem allows us to trust ourselves, to value our uniqueness and recognise our own abilities.
Life transitions/ Adulthood to Mid-life and later
We are all in the middle of our own life story. Whether you're struggling with moving into the responsibilities of adulthood and feeling overwhelmed, or perhaps experiencing issues with menopause and/or health issues whilst trying to juggle family care/work and feeling stressed, angry or tearful...you are not alone.
If you're currently feeling anxious, stressed or depressed about something, talking therapy can be an incredibly helpful way for you to understand and work through those feelings, allowing you an opportunity to consider, with your counsellor, ways to move forward in dealing with these issues, on your own terms.
Relationship/family issues
Sometimes it can feel as if we play out the same repetitive behaviours within our relationships, resulting in anger, resentment, shutting down or even abandoning the relationship altogether.
In looking at why we do this (and why we get the reactions that we do) counselling can help to challenge old thinking patterns and behaviours and introduce new ways of interacting with others in both our long term and new relationships.