• How can counselling and psychotherapy help?
• How long will I need counselling and psychotherapy?
• How confidential is confidential?
• Will I feel immediately better?
• Do I have to talk about my childhood?
• What happens in the first session?

Here are a few questions frequently asked by people who are considering counselling or psychotherapy:

How can counselling and psychotherapy help?

There is a common belief that by talking about your feelings and what troubles you can make you feel worse. Sometimes sharing difficult emotions with someone else can bring relief and calm, and even more positive thinking of how you might move forward in your life. Telling your story, putting it into words and sharing this with the therapist can help you be in touch with your feelings and probably feel less overwhelmed by them.

How long will I need counselling and psychotherapy?

This depends on you and what you need, what is emotionally and psychologically possible and also financial considerations need to be taken into account.

How confidential is confidential?

Confidentiality is an essential aspect of counselling and psychotherapy. It contributes greatly to the client’s sense of safety and is one of the things that make the therapeutic relationship different from any other. Counselling and psychotherapy encourages clients to be as open and honest about themselves as possible and inevitably involves clients discussing personal experiences and sensitive information with their therapist. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the client can trust that what they are disclosing about themselves will remain confidential.

Will I feel immediately better?

Some clients can feel an immediate sense of relief after sharing their problems and less alone. At other times, beginning to talk about material that has been kept hidden or denied can be a little bit unsettling. However, with the weekly support of counselling and psychotherapy in time this feeling of been stirred up can settle and a sense of relief can be restored.

Do I have to talk about my childhood?

Please see my previous section on past, present and future.

What happens in the first session?

If you have never been to counselling and psychotherapy you may feel nervous and apprehensive. This is normal and people often find it a relief to say how they are feeling at the beginning of the session. You do not need to prepare in any particular way before you attend your session and once you arrive, anything you need to know will be explained to you.
The first session is an opportunity to ask any questions you may have and for you to see whether you feel comfortable talking about your concerns. To begin with you will be asked for some background information and then invited to talk about what brings you to counselling or therapy. Some people have a clear sense of why they have come and what they want whilst others might only know that they are in distress without knowing why. Both positions are fine, they simply describe a different starting point.
Towards the end of the session there will be the opportunity to discuss how the session has gone and whether further work together would be useful.