What to expect at the first session
The first session is a standalone session with no obligation to continue. It will last for 50 minutes.
It offers you a safe place in which to explore how you feel about and experience your relationship. I understand how difficult it is to make that decision to come for counselling and how nervous you might be feeling about starting to talk about the reason you made the appointment with a stranger. I aim to enable you to feel safe and secure enough to be able to talk through some of the issues and maybe get some clarity over what maybe underpinning the problem.
You will be asked for some basic information and then you will have the opportunity to talk about what has brought you into counselling.
This session also gives you time to check whether you feel I am the right person for you. It is important to have a sense of feeling comfortable with your therapist and is vital so that a relationship based on trust and a security can develop. It also gives me the opportunity to make sure relationship counselling is the best way forward for you.
Whether you go away and think about what you want to do or whether you decide at the end of the session, if you do decide to go forward with ongoing sessions we will decide together on a day and time suitable to us all. The sessions would be on a weekly basis.
What to expect from ongoing counselling
We will work together to decide what goals you want to achieve and what issues are important to address. We will have reviews throughout the counselling to check we are on the right track and what else has arisen that needs to be explored.
We will look at your past, the influences and messages that have formed you and also look at the current situation to understand what is maintaining the problems.
We will spend time really understanding what has happened to cause the issues and how to go about making changes that are going to be effective and long lasting.
Throughout the process you will feel safe and contained, heard and respected and guided to be able to find the answers for yourself.
After two or three months, many clients find that they can make the connections and find the answers on their own and their thinking, communication and awareness has developed to such an extent that I melt into the background.
This is when its time to end the counselling. Most people leave feeling they’ve learned a lot about their relationship and their partner but also a lot about themselves.
My fees
Fees range from £110 to £130. This is dependent on whether the sessions are for individuals or couples and on the timing of the sessions.
I do also have a limited number of low-cost places for those out of work or on a very low income, for more information please give me a call.