Helping people to help themselves

Safe and Confidential

Therapeutic counselling is the process of helping people to help themselves. Counselling offers a safe and confidential environment for people to be heard and feel valued, free from prejudice.

Reach for Help is an organisation which provides counselling services to the public. Counselling is the process of talking and being heard, a counsellor will listen to what you have to say, clarify, reflect, challenge and help you explore your own feelings, emotions and thoughts. Counselling is there to help you get through the situations and problems you have in your life. This can be anything from struggling with low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, coping with a loss or wanting to make a change in life. Many people struggle in so many ways, counselling can help, because it acts as a place for us to be heard and understood free from judgement.

A client can feel safe knowing that what is said within a counselling session will remain confidential. There are some exceptions, and these will be covered during the contracting process in the first session, as a client you will also receive a copy of the working agreement between us. When you leave the first session you should feel confident and clear about what counselling is and how it can help.

Helping you to Help Yourself

Why might people seek counselling? The answer is simple, for help, help with any aspect of life, such as anger management, bereavement, dealing with stress, depression, self-harming, coping with an addiction, there are many reasons why people seek counselling. Sometimes it’s just nice to talk to someone face-to-face, knowing that that conversation will never leave the room.

Technology, and smartphones in particular can dehumanise us, they are essential to modern day-to-day life, but they can take away person-to-person contact. Facebook, instant messaging, Twitter, Snapchat and many other fast communication solutions enable us to communicate at many different levels. These are not a bad thing, but when they take over they can deprive us of that face-to-face experience. Counselling can help a person reconnect with that, it can offer an opportunity to experiment and explore, it can help reduce fear and improve confidence. Counselling is effectively tailored to your needs, it isn’t a broad brush approach to all life’s problems, it is personalised and applied directly for you and what it is you bring to therapy.

A Personalised Approach

Integrative counselling is counselling which integrates several theoretical approaches in order to achieve its aim, which is helping the client. Person Centred Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Transactional Analysis are the three theoretical models used at Reach for Help. Each are effective in their own right, and aspects of each can integrated to suit the specific needs of the client. Counselling can be conducted within a traditional counselling room, or we are able to move outside in nature and conduct Nature Therapy.

Where counselling takes place is dependent on the client’s needs. Working outdoors may suit some but not others, it depends on several factors. The options will be discussed and a suitable format agreed with the client at the outset. The client’s safety and well-being are paramount, with this in mind outdoors therapy may not be suitable for everyone, helping you to help yourself is what counselling is all about, we work together in order to achieve this.

If you would like to talk to me about the process, or if you have any questions then please feel free to get in touch, we can talk about what it is you’re looking to achieve and then work together to establish a plan in order for you to get there. You can find out more information about the whole process on this site, what to expect at the first counselling session, and how I will work with you to help you achieve your aims.

If you have any questions then feel free to message me via the contact page.