About Counselling and Psychotherapy
Counselling and Psychotherapy involves talking to someone who is a trained listener about things that are concerning you. They are trained to help you understand your thoughts and feelings and help you change the things you want to change and to come to terms with those that cannot be changed. It is a process that you take an active part in.
The difference between Counselling & Psychotherapy
There is not a clear definition of the difference between Counselling and Psychotherapy. Generally, counselling tends to be short term and focused on immediate difficulties with a focus on problem-solving. Most Counsellors will have had a shorter and less intensive training than most psychotherapists. Psychotherapy tends to go deeper into why you think, feel and behave as you do, helping you to understand yourself and your relationships. It will explore the past to see how it may be impacting on you now.
Choosing a therapist
It can be a daunting task finding a Counsellor or Psychotherapist when there are so many to choose from and a multitude of approaches.
Research has shown the relationship between the therapist and the client is very important in how successful you see the outcome of the therapy. Finding someone you feel is really listening non judgementally to you, can help build trust so that you can open up and talk about thoughts and feelings that may be difficult or very personal to you. You can begin to assess this for yourself from the beginning - how you feel reading the web site or first contact you have and how far your questions are being answered so that you can make an informed choice for yourself. It's important to take your time, do some research and talk to a small number of therapists.
