Areas of Expertise
Bereavement
There is no ‘right way’ to deal with the death of a loved one and no fixed time frame in which ‘to get over the death’. We all have individual emotions and feelings to deal with at a devastating time. These emotions can be strong, painful and overwhelming and talking through the emotions being experienced can help get your life back on track.
Grief
The situation in which a bereavement occurs can make it difficult to cope with the associated grief. Understanding your grief through exploration of the feelings, physical symptoms, behaviours and thoughts can help to identity both helpful and unhelpful patterns. Through recognition of these patterns and reducing the unhelpful ones you can learn to look after yourself again.
Loss
Loss is a feeling of sadness experienced when you no longer have someone or something that you had previously. Loss is felt when a loved one dies, or we lose something important to us for example, a job or health. How we experience loss can depend on a variety of factors including our upbringing, beliefs and circumstances. Counselling can provide the space to understand, accept and explore the loss.
Stress
Life events cause stress including bereavement, loss of a job or even happier events such as a wedding or birth of a baby. Counselling can help you deal with the causes of stress by working through how to deal with the problems being experienced rather than avoiding them.
Carers
Being a carer significantly changes your life and you can often feel overwhelmed, isolated or desperate for support. When the role ends this can lead to you lacking purpose or not feeling needed. Counselling provides support for you, the carer, during what can be a difficult journey and when the role ends, help you explore the emotions experienced and identify what you want to do next.
My Approach
I offer a person-centred approach to counselling walking side by side with you, on your personal journey. I work in an empathic, respectful and honest manner providing a safe, confidential and non-judgemental environment in which to explore the issues in your life. The most important aspect of counselling is the relationship between you and the counsellor. I commit to valuing your experience, facilitating you to find the solutions to your problems through building your trust in yourself and your judgement. This will develop your sense of worth which will lead to a more satisfying and fulfilled life.
Testimonial
I just wanted to say a big ‘thank you’ for being my guide and helper during recent sessions. I have benefitted by being able to express my thoughts and concerns about the grieving process, and hopefully have clarified some things which were troubling me. I also felt that I can begin to be more
self-centred to help me achieve a balance in the next few years. I have appreciated very much your listening ear, and your ability to know when to question my thoughts.
