At the initial session we will discuss further sessions and take it from there.

Counseling is essentially a "talking therapy" and clients - who are seen individually - are assured of a safe, contained environment where they can examine difficult issues in complete confidentiality.

This is because counseling seeks to enable the client to explore areas of distress and enable him or her and to become aware of the life choices which are available. These are often areas that a client feels uncomfortable talking about with friends or family and only feels secure in the confidential environment of the counseling room.

Therefore client and counselor work together to discover ways of helping the client to deal more effectively with personal difficulties, allowing him or her to move forward.

Many different issues are dealt with in counseling work. Among the issues for which counseling may be appropriate are:

Counselling is open to anyone of any age, from any racial, relious, sexual or cultral background who feels he or she could benefit from exploring issues which may have been disturbing or causing concern.

The work is face-to-face and may be short-term or long-term, according to the nature of the problem.

There is an initial 50 minute consultation during which the counsellor gains an understanding of the presenting problem and can then assess whether counselling could help or whether another type of treatment would be more suitable. If this is the case it may be possible to refer the client on to an appropriate practitioner or organisation.

Also during the first session, the conditions of the working relationship are established and mutually agreed in order to create a safe and effective framework for the counselling process to take place.

If the client then decides to continue with counselling, sessions are usually once weekly and of 50 minutes duration