Put simply, counselling is where two people meet to talk and listen together. You may meet face to face in a counselling room or you may come together online or on the phone. If you meet face to face you will spend time with your counsellor, seated in a chair opposite them in a private setting. Your counsellor will aim to make you feel comfortable and welcome so that you can relax and feel able to talk freely.
Your counsellor will listen attentively to you and encourage you to speak openly about whatever brings you to counselling. They will try to ‘walk in your shoes’ so that they can see the world from your perspective. Their role is not to give advice but instead they will aim to help you make connections and discoveries that give you a better understanding and acceptance of yourself, and so help you resolve your own problems.
Talking with a counsellor is not like a normal conversation where you both exchange opinions and information. Often your counsellor will say very little because their role is to listen to and understand you. They will however ask you questions to help you explore how you think and feel about things. They will rarely tell you anything about themselves, as the counselling is about you and you are the focus.
Depending on the counsellor you choose to work with, you may simply talk or you may combine talking with creative approaches such as drawing images or working with picture cards and objects, to help you explore subjects which may be difficult to express in words alone.
Counselling may bring difficult thoughts and feelings to the surface and this can feel like hard work before you start to feel the benefits from counselling. It is important to feel you are in the right moment in your life to embark on counselling, where you have the time and energy to devote to it. In other words, you need the right time, the right place and the right counsellor for you, before beginning your journey in counselling. You may meet with these counsellors. The length of the counselling journey is different for each individual. Some only need a few sessions, others need many more.
Counselling is not sufficient support if you feel you are in crisis. Signs of crisis may be feelings of wanting to harm yourself or another. See here for more information.
The sessions at Summerside Counselling last for an hour and you may meet weekly or fortnightly. You will meet on the same day and at the same time, if at all possible. The standard rate for a session is £40.