Counselling and Therapy overlap. Counselling has the emphasis on sorting out a current situation; therapy is about making long-term changes to deep-rooted patterns and is more focussed and change-centred than counselling.
Counselling
Sometime in our life, we all have problems that we don't want to talk about to people we know. Commonly we manage to surround ourselves with like-minded people, so it can be extremely difficult to get a fresh perspective and often those close to us are too involved to be helpful. Sometimes we have problems that those around us simply have no experience or knowledge about.
Counselling provides an impartial, understanding atmosphere in which to explore thoughts and feelings about an issue and ultimately to find your own solutions. Sometimes even one or two sessions can be enough to begin to see a way forward.
Therapy
Therapy
is a safe environment where we can understand and re-evaluate the beliefs we hold about ourselves, other people and our world.
Very often, difficult memories, especially from childhood, are pushed away, ignored or discounted as they caused too much hurt or anxiety at the time that they could not be dealt with. But these memories and associated feelings still exist in memory; they do not simply go away. They continue to affect the way we feel about ourselves and the way we behave in our present.
There are many different approaches to therapy - and each one will be more appropriate to particular issues or to individual people.
I specialise in the therapies that have been long-recognised as the most effective way to make changes in the shortest time.
CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy)
CBT is a very practical and systematic approach to changing patterns of thought and behaviour that is highly favoured by
Doctors and members of the health profession. I use an approach called Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) to identify
the irrational and limiting thoughts and behaviour patterns that hold us back and then to use a graduated approach to help
you discover that the old fears are no longer necessary.
NLP (Neuro Lingusitic Programming)
NLP is a more recent approach that was essentially based on everything that worked in all the other main therapies. It is a
highly practical approach that helps us understand and more easily change "how we do things" in our mind - it is a very elegant
way of identifying disruptive patterns and replacing them with things that just work better.
NLP appeals to people who like to understand how they do things and appreciate simple and effective mental tools they can take
away and utilise. This practical approach of NLP has made it effective not only in therapy but also as probably the single most
favoured approach in the workplace to enhance the performance of individuals, teams and organisations.
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is not actually a therapy at all, but a unique and powerful tool that allows therapy to be utilised in a different way.
All professional hypnotherapy is about resolving deep patterns and is a very elegant approach that works with the unconscious
mind, where all our learning, memory, experiences and habits reside to make lasting changes surprisingly easily and quickly.
When you are looking for a Hypnotherapist, it is important to find out what therapies they are actually qualified in. Phrases
like 'Consultant Hypnotherapist', 'Advanced Hypnotherapist' or some supposedly unique brand of hypnotherapy are usually used
by those who have only trained in hypnosis and have no other therapeutic qualifications.
Hypnotherapy is particularly effective in conjunction with CBT and NLP with anxiety attacks and phobias, where the "fear
of the fear" has become the problem because it breaks the vicious circle at a deeper, intuitive level.
There are so many strange ideas around about Hypnosis that the safest starting point is to assume that what you have heard
about it up to now - is probably wrong. One of the commonest misconceptions is that the Hypnotherapist can somehow control
a person's mind and make them do things that they would not otherwise do. Another, is that you go into some sort of
unconscious trance, where you lose all awareness. Neither is true. For Hypnosis to work there has to be a collaboration
between you and the therapist where you must be aware and in control.
Provided it is being used to achieve something you are motivated to achieve and is consistent with your values, Hypnosis can
have remarkable power. You may well have seen dramatic TV documentaries where surgical operations have been performed
with no other pain control than Hypnosis and where the patient is fully conscious and talking throughout.
Anyone can experience hypnosis, as it is a natural state we all experience every day. The only obstacle to Hypnosis is anxiety
about it due to misconceptions. Once someone has experienced the comfort of hypnosis it is easy to let it become a very
powerful and useful tool for change. I show people how to use self-hypnosis so they can continue to make changes themselves.