Home   New   Mother Daughter Counselling   Skills and experience   Health   Testimonials   Terms and conditions   About Mindi   Contact

What is counselling?

Counselling is time for you and your counsellor to look at anything that may be worrying you or stopping you from living your life to the full. It may include exploring your blind spots, or talking about life events (past and present), feelings, emotions, relationships, ways of thinking and patterns of behaviour. A counsellor will do their best to help you to look at your issues, and to help you to identify and resolve your difficulties or help you to find ways of coping.

Talking to a counsellor is not the same as talking with a friend, a parent or sibling, who would probably have an opinion about the issues discussed. The counsellor is an impartial professional, who is able to listen to you non-judgmentally and to work with your emotions without getting emotional themselves. Despite the name, counsellors don’t usually offer advice. Instead, they help you to gain insight into your feelings and behaviour, and to change your behaviour if necessary. A counsellor does this by listening to what you have to say and commenting on it from their professional perspective. The counsellor helps you to develop an understanding of yourself and others and to find your own solutions, making no demands upon you except for the terms agreed in your therapeutic contract. (See terms and conditions).

 

How can counselling help?

You may come to counselling because of difficult experiences you’ve been going through, such as  relationship breakdown, bereavement, redundancy, stress or just because you are not coping well with life. Perhaps you just want a better life and can't see how to get there on your own. You may want help dealing with feelings of sadness, depression, anxiety or low self-worth that don’t seem to be connected to any particular event. Counselling can help people understand their thoughts and feelings. It is not the counsellor who does this work but the client. The client gives themselves the time to discover new ways of being happier and living their life in a different way. It is not always easy to talk about some deeper issues and takes courage and commitment.

 

Confidentiality

Anything you say to a professional counsellor is confidential. This means I won't share your information with anyone else without your permission, unless you or another person is at risk from harm. I won't look down on you or tell you what to do, but will treat you with respect and try to help you.

What can I offer you?

I will offer you a confidential and safe space where you can relax and talk through your worries. I will not judge you or criticise you, I will give you all the time you need to build a relationship with me, where you can feel safe to disclose anything that stops you from living your life. I will not give you advice, but will help you to gain insight into your feelings and behaviour. We will discover ways to help you to cope with your life as it is now, to look forwards into the future at how you would like your life to be and to reach decisions you are happy with. Many of my clients say “it is just so good to feel someone is listening to me at last”. I have learnt a lot from working with young people since 1997, as young people hate being talked down to. As a young person’s counsellor I have to be open and honest and give the young person time to open up. This of course applies to all my clients.

I like to provide my clients with as relaxed an atmosphere as possible whilst remaining professional at all times. I will use other skills I have trained in if and when appropriate and if the client agrees this will help them. I have used Japanese acupressure massage: a refreshingly different seated massage and fully clothed massage for both health and relaxation, specially developed for relaxation and for de-stressing the mind and body. I have used this either at the beginning of a session or at the end to help the client relax after a difficult session when they may have disclosed something very emotional or distressing. Massage will help them to leave those feelings and to go home feeling lighter.

 

I have also used Bach Flower Remedies. As a trained practitioner and user of the remedies myself I have seen these simple and safe remedies help a client to manage everyday emotions and to help them cope with stresses. The remedies support the client between sessions.

Mother-Daughter counsellor.

I am also a Reiki practitioner and teacher and have used Reiki to help a client to relax and de-stress. As my youngest daughter says “Reiki is the light that breaks through a dark cloud and relaxes me at the end of the day”.

I am fully committed to my clients, I am passionate about my work and I love to see people happy as a result of time spent on themselves. I am a mother and a grandmother and have suffered with illness since I was 17 years old. I have worked hard to achieve the level of health and happiness I now have and I am committed to sharing that with others and using the therapies and wisdom I have gained over the years.

How many sessions will I need?

We will discuss this during your first session. Generally I work in blocks of 6 and after each 6 sessions we will reassess where you are and decide what is needed to best support you at that time. Making this regular commitment is important.

I also offer a telephone service and counselling via Skype, Zoom and WhatsApp video. During any Lockdown I will not be doing face to face counselling. I hope to resume face to face in July in Bridport.