Counselling or Psychotherapy

Counselling (also referred to as ‘talk therapy’) most commonly assists with present problems that may be easily resolved. These issues, when brought into a session, are spoken about in the present-tense and how they are currently impacting on the client. Very little attention is placed on past experiences. Counselling focuses on building and strengthening people’s capacity to cope with specific life challenges such as relationship endings, life changes, (such as changing jobs) bereavement, stress and anxiety. A counsellor can assist people to develop goals for change, resolve crises, reduce distress and improve their wellbeing. The client, through guidance and support from the counsellor, discovers their own answers and chooses their own actions to take.

With assistance from the counsellor, a client can discover their own inner resources, and build up their own problems solving capacities. This will allow them to develop more meaningful ways to move on with life.

Psychotherapy focuses to a greater extent on a process of exploration into unconscious issues, negative feelings and behaviours. This is done by examining the client’s psychological history, by noticing that their personal difficulties are repetitive and similar issues arise time and again within different contexts and relationships. Psychotherapy does not look at individual problems but examines chronic issues, recurring feelings and overall patterns of behaviour. A psychotherapist helps to resolve the underlying issues that continue to propel and sustain ongoing difficulties. The client is assisted in achieving better understanding of and then change long-standing patterns of thought and behaviour that may be disrupting family, work or study. By achieving a change within the personality (or self), they are able to create a foundation on which to build a meaningful and rich life.  

When deciding whether you need counselling or psychotherapy, an important factor to remember is that, research has shown that is the quality of the relationship between the therapist and the client that is the biggest factor in achieving successful outcomes within a course of therapy. As a qualified endorsed therapists, we base our sessions on an integrative approach, drawing in aspects of both counselling and psychotherapy to create a personalised tailored approach for each individual client.

If you have any questions please  contact us