Frequently asked questions What is counselling? Counselling or 'Talking Therapy' is a regular time and space for you to talk and explore any difficult, uncomfortable or confusing feelings you have in a confidential and safe setting with a trained professional facilitating your counselling session.
Counsellors do not give advice, but can help you to gain insight and clarity which may help you to cope with a specific issue or crisis, improve your relationships, or find a better way of living your life.
What happens in a counselling session? A counselling session lasts for 50 minutes. Typically, a client and counsellor meet at a regular time and day on a weekly basis. This arrangement may change as your counselling session's progress, but initially, regular weekly meetings are an important part of the therapuetic process. Purely Counselling offers open ended counselling which means that you are not limited to a certain number of sessions.
You should expect to experience a calm and non-judgemental space with a counsellor who is fully attentive and working with your needs throughout the session.
Will counselling help me? If there is something that you are finding difficult to cope with or understand, or perhaps there is something that is restricting you from living your life the way that you want to, then counselling could help. There are many reasons why people seek the help of a counsellor and each client is unique in their reasons for seeking support.
Some common reasons include the following: Relationship difficulties, bereavement, anxiety, depression, sexuality, sexual abuse, low self-esteem/confidence, anger, stress, work related difficulties, mental health, bullying, obsessions, phobias, domestic abuse, family issues, loneliness, behaviours that cause concern, separation and divorce, shock, trauma, identity, culture, addictions.
This list is not exhaustive, it just provides a flavour of common reasons that clients give as a reason for seeking support.
Is everything that I say confidential? Whatever you choose to discuss will remain confidential, except in exceptional circumstances. These exceptions will be discussed with you at the beginning of your first session.
Regular supervision of client work is received in accordance with the BACP's ethical framework but no identifying information about clients will be shared. Supervision ensures that counsellors are working safely and appropriately with clients.
I've heard there are different types of counselling available. What approach do you use? A Person Centred Approach (PCA).This is an approach which is based on the principle that the counsellor provides three core conditions that are, in themselves, therapeutic and when used in the relationship with a client, will bring about healing and change.
The three core conditions are:
Empathy (the ability to imagine oneself as if in another's position)