Approaches to Counselling

Theoretical Approaches to Counselling. Integrative counselling.

As the name suggests, integration brings together different elements of specific therapies such as humanistic person centred, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), solution focused, psycho-dynamic, transactional analysis and gestalt theories.

Integrative therapists take the view that there is no single approach that can treat each client in all situations. Therefore the way I work is to listen to your story, ask questions and try to understand what life means for you, and what you wish to achieve from our sessions together.

My aim is to see, feel and experience the world as you the client experiences it, this way I can begin to understand and attune with you. I will be able to select the appropriate model of therapy to enable you to explore and work through your concerns.

I work by applying the core conditions of Empathy, Congruence Acceptance and Respect to quickly build a professional rapport with you, this enables us to move forwards and achieve the goals that you have set within our work together.

As a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist I can help you to manage your problems/anxieties by changing the way you think and behave. It is most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression but can be useful for other mental emotional and physical health problems.

Cognitive behavioural therapy cannot remove your problems, but it can help you address with them in a more positive way. It is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle.

Cognitive behavioural therapy aims to help you crack this cycle by breaking down overwhelming problems into smaller parts and showing you how to change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel.

Unlike some other talking treatments, cognitive behavioural therapy deals with your current problems, rather than focusing on issues from your past. It looks for practical ways to improve your state of mind on a daily basis and improve your quality of life and relationships with others.