COUNSELLING ISSUES
WHAT I CAN HELP WITH
Abuse | Anger management | Anxiety | Bereavement | Child related issues | Depression | Disability | Health related issues | Identity issues | Loss | Menopause | Personal development | Post-traumatic stress | Redundancy | Relational Issues | Self esteem | Service veterans | Sex-related issues | Sexuality | Stress | Trauma | Work related issues
ANXIETY
Many of us will experience situations, people or places that make us feel anxious throughout our lives. Often these feelings pass. Levels of anxiety can start to negatively affect your day-to-day life, often presenting as feelings of restlessness, anger, a sense of dread, feeling constantly on edge, irritable and difficulty concentrating, amongst many other symptoms.
DEPRESSION & LOW MOOD
The symptoms of depression can be complex and vary widely between people. If you're depressed, you may feel sad, hopeless and lose interest in things you used to enjoy. You may have lost interest in your hobbies, have stopped seeing friends or noticed some issues and problems affecting relationships, work and day to day life.
There are many symptoms of depression, the psychological symptoms of depression can include continuous low mood, sadness, a feeling hopeless and helplessness, low self-esteem, feeling tearful, guilt-ridden, irritable, shame, intolerance, a lack of motivation and feeling that you are having no enjoyment of life.
Talking through your feelings, emotions, experiences and behaviours can help to gain a perspective on your depression and help to resolve the issues.
In certain cases it can extend to having suicidal feelings or thoughts of harming yourself. If you are having these feelings it is important to talk to a trained professional and seek their help and support as soon as possible, please contact: Samaritans
Call 116 123 or Email jo@samaritans.org
RELATIONSHIP & FAMILY ISSUES
We are all unique individuals as is our perception of the world as we experience it. You see and experience people and the world in different ways. Sometimes your interpretation of relationships with family, friends and colleagues, or other people you interact with, can become troubled or difficult. When a relationship becomes difficult it can be all consuming and start to impact many areas of your personal or work life.
Counselling can help you to explore how these difficulties have manifested and help to gain an understanding of the issues that affect the way you feel, behave and express yourself, making it possible to implement changes and coping strategies that might improve your own response to those difficulties.
TRAUMA
Trauma is an emotional response to any experience event that has affected you, it doesn't have to be a terrible event for you to be effected by trauma. Trauma happens in the slightest of ways and it’s your interpretation and perception of what’s happened to you that defines how that trauma sits uniquely in your soul, mind and body. Symptoms are different in every individual case and can evolve and change over time. Symptoms can often include shock, fear, helplessness, hopelessness unpredictable emotions, insomnia, anger, hyper vigilance, anxiousness and nightmares (this list is not exhaustive)
Whilst you cannot undo past events and experiences, using talking therapy to work through these difficult events and your associated feelings, helps to create a greater understanding and a plan to minimise their on-going impact on your day-to-day life and ways to cope in the face of future traumas.
STRESS
Stress is your body's reaction to feeling under pressure or threatened. It's very common and can be motivating to help you achieve things in your daily life, and can help you meet the demands of life. However, too much stress can affect your life, mood, body and relationships – especially when it feels out of our control. It can make you feel anxious, angry, irrational, irritable and negatively affect your self-esteem.
Experiencing a lot of stress over a long period of time can also lead to a feeling of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, often referred to as burnout.
Exploring the causes and effects of feelings stressed, through counselling can help alleviate the symptoms and help to acquire change to minimise the impact of stress in your life and better manage the stresses in the future.
BEREAVEMENT, GRIEF & LOSS
Bereavement, grief, and loss are natural feelings when we lose someone or something that we hold dear to us. These can include symptoms of shock, numbness, overwhelming sadness, tearfulness, tiredness, exhaustion, anger and guilt. Counselling can support your journey through grief and help understand your feelings as you navigate the grieving process.
LOW SELF CONFIDENCE & SELF ESTEEM
Low Confidence and low self-esteem can be based on how you value and perceive yourself. Opinions and beliefs about yourself can sometimes feel really difficult to change. The issues that affect self-esteem and confidence differ for everyone. Your self-esteem might change suddenly, or you might have had low self-esteem for a while​ or for your entire life. – which might make it hard to recognise how you feel and make changes.
Using one to one counselling sessions, we can explore yourself awareness and look at the range of issues that might be impacting your self-esteem. Working on your confidence and values helps to promote positive change.
PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Emotional abuse (also called psychological abuse) is a type of abuse where someone tries to use emotions to manipulate, embarrass, shame, blame, criticise, or otherwise try and gain control and power over someone else. Physical and mental or emotional abuse can go hand in hand in many cases. The impact of such abuse can be in the immediate moment of it happening, but also long afterwards, making it important to work through the issues with a professional who can guide and advise you.
If you are reading this and are in need of immediate help to get yourself/loved ones to a safe place the UK.GOV advice is the following:
“If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police. If you can’t speak and are calling on a mobile press 55 to have your call transferred to the police. Find out how to call the police when you can’t speak.
For free, confidential advice, 24 hours a day contact a domestic abuse helpline.
You can read more guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-abuse-how-to-get-help#how-to-call-the-police-when-you-cant-speak
SELF HARM
Self-harm can be a way of dealing with very difficult feelings, painful memories or overwhelming situations and experiences. Some people have described self-harm as a way to express something that is hard to put into words, change emotional pain into physical pain or have a sense of being in control, amongst many other feelings. Counselling can help you develop a greater understanding of your triggers and situation and give you techniques to better manage it.
SEXUALITY & GENDER
Our sexuality and gender can form a big part of our identity and often we may grow up in an environment where our sexuality and/or gender has been pre-determined or expected to be a certain way.
Those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Trans, Queer or one of many other identities (LGBTQ+) can be seen as ‘different’ as opposed to old fashioned societal-norms, with some facing discrimination, bullying and a lack of understanding which can lead to mental health concerns.
Fortunately here in the UK, society is becoming much more tolerant than it was for LGBTQ+ individuals in the past. But it can still be a time of great personal change if you are working through issues related to your gender and/or sexuality. Counselling can help.
CAREER CHANGES & LIFE CHANGES
As we go through life, nothing stays the same and we often face periods of change, both professionally and personally. Some of the change is a natural progression of your own ambitions, expectations, thoughts and values, whereas sometimes change is thrust upon you, without any choice (e.g. redundancy, loss, divorce, grief, death of a loved one). These changes, whether self-motivated or externally controlled can be hard to navigate and can often affect your confidence and self-esteem resulting in a varying range of emotions. Counselling is an excellent way to create a proactive understanding of the changes taking place and gain greater clarity in the direction you want to travel forwards.