Counselling with me involves having a space to talk about your life and anything that may be confusing, painful or uncomfortable – maybe problems that you do not feel comfortable discussing anywhere else. It is my job to provide a space that is safe for you. Our work will involve exploring, to whichever level of depth you are comfortable, what lies beneath your problems. This is so that you can gain a conscious and clear understanding of them – a level of self-awareness – which will enable us to work on how we can affect change.
We will work together on how you can apply your awareness and challenge negative/destructive thoughts or behaviour. We will do this by identifying healthier alternatives that work for you instead and practice applying them.
I will help you to develop tools for managing your struggles. The aim of our work is to get to the point where you achieve not only self-awareness but also how you can apply it positively to your life, without my support.
The depth of our work determines whether we call it Psychotherapy or Counselling but they exist on the same spectrum. Psychotherapy essentially refers to a greater degree of exploration of the subconscious – which is dependent upon how unhealthily or harmfully our subconscious impedes on our lives. So, counselling is generally considered more short-term whilst psychotherapy requires longer term work.
After counselling with Christian, I don’t feel as anxious or as scared as I did before. I feel a lot more relaxed. Our sessions helped me to realise what I went through in my accident. I was denying a lot of things, especially my feelings. Now I’m not and I feel calmer and I haven’t felt anything close to a panic attack like I’d had before.
Anonymous, Sept – Oct 2015, East Dulwich
I have learned things about myself that I feel I always knew but were quite a shock to realise at the time. But after letting them out and being able to talk about them with Christian, I felt much lighter and ready to deal with them. Now I know a lot more about why I have always held myself back and how I get in my own way.
Joss, March to July 2015, East Dulwich
In our sessions I realized things about myself and my past that had such a powerful impact and have helped me realise why I feel or think like I do.
