how I work

The core qualities of the counselling relationship are:-

• Genuineness

• Empathy

• Respect

Psychodynamic counselling concentrates on the therapeutic relationship to gain an understanding of patterns of behaviour
which may have evolved over long periods of time. By providing a safe place to think about and experience feelings and being
able to talk about experiences and explore the emotions behind them allows us to gain a better understanding of the
unconscious processes which have been influencing our behaviour.

As the work progresses you can expect to become more aware of thoughts and feelings and learn how some ways of coping may be
unhelpful or even harmful to you or your relationships. This can lead to deeper awareness and more open and healthy ways of dealing
with the inevitable problems that life throws at all of us.

We would initially meet for an assessment session lasting for approximately one hour. This provides an opportunity to talk about the
issues which have brought you to consider counselling and for both of us to explore whether we can work together.

This assessment is particularly important as it allows you to get a better understanding of psychodynamic counselling and decide
whether it is appropriate to you. If not, there are other types of therapy which I may be able to help you to think about.

If we decide that psychodynamic counselling is appropriate we can agree to meet at the same time each week with sessions
lasting for 50 minutes either once or twice each week.
 
The length that counselling takes can vary considerably and can be agreed between ourselves depending on progress.