Counselling is key to healthy living

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How can Counselling help me?

Whether you are experiencing temporary or persisting symptoms of stress, anxiety or trauma, counselling can offer you great methods to get back to life on your terms.

Families Counselling

  • Family Counselling Sessions
  • Family Astrology Counselling Sessions
  • Family Therapy Sessions
  • Parent-Child Relationship Counseling
  • Family Conflict Resolution
  • Family Mediation
  • Family Communication Skills
  • Divorce and Separation Counselling

Couples Counselling

  • Relationship Counselling
  • Astrology Counselling
  • Couples Therapy Sessions
  • Premarital Counselling
  • Communication Skills Training
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Resilience and Stress Management
  • Goal Setting and Visioning
  • Narrative Therapy
  • Long-Distance Relationship

Singles Counselling

  • Stress
  • Depression
  • Anxiety / panic attacks / phobias
  • Trauma
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Workspace stress
  • Grief and loss
  • Self development
  • Goal setting
  • Social anxiety/shyness
  • Confidence boosting

What happens when you visit a counsellor the first time?

There are different types of counsellors specialising in different areas of counselling. But the first time you visit a counsellor the following will usually take place.

An intake interview

This is where you introduce yourself and let the counsellor know why you are there and what you want or are expecting support with, and even what kind of goals and outcomes you want from the sessions.

Confidentiality

All counselling sessions are confidential and this will be explained to you at the first session.

Contract

At the first session the counsellor will explain costs and also explain when you can cancel or reschedule sessions without incurring any costs.

Is this where you want to be?

Most importantly during the first session you will get a chance to check if your counsellor is the right one for you and visa versa. In some cases a counsellor’s own experience may be different from what you present. And in these circumstances the counsellor may refer you to another counsellor or support service.

Likewise, you may decide whether or not the counsellor is right for you. Counselling is a support service to help you work out your own decisions in whatever areas you are needing a bit of support with so it is important that you feel confident about the counsellor you decide to work with. In some larger organisations the person you see at an intake interview may not be the counsellor you will work with. You can ask if this is the case when you make enquiries.

What kind of therapies do Counsellors use?

Your Counsellor can use several different therapies and usually both you and your Counsellor will make that decision. In some cases the Counsellor may be trained in some but not others. They will discuss this with you.

Do Counsellors diagnose mental illnesses?

No Counsellors are not able to make diagnoses because they are not medical doctors. Your Counsellor is there to help you to help yourself. A Counsellor cannot prescribe or diagnose.

Do you have to be diagnosed and referred by a Doctor to visit a Counsellor?

Anyone can visit a Counsellor and many people do.

How do I choose the right counsellor?

Counsellors work in many areas, for example, some may specialise working with people seeking to stop gambling, or drug addiction. Financial counselling, family counselling, counselling for victims of abuse, these are all areas counsellors work in. Others may work with people who feel some trauma, or depression, or even just those who are just feeling anxious and would like a little support at a particular time in their lives.

There are also career counsellors, youth counsellors, and more. So when choosing a counsellor it is always good to make some enquiries first. Some offer an initial phone call or short session free of charge to introduce their services. Some provide enough information on their websites and/or in their literature.

If you are uncertain whether we can help you or not you can simply make contact through the contact form and let us know a little of what you want from counselling. If you prefer to speak to us why not book a 20 minute discovery session free of charge, one time only.

What is Case Management?

Counsellors are often called upon to work within a Team of Allied Health Workers and other services on behalf of Clients. For example, someone with a gambling addiction may be meeting with a Counsellor, but also be attending group sessions through a different service provider.

Often two or more practitioners are involved in a support Team for a Client and Case Management is performed in order to coordinate the kinds of support, to ensure that it is coherent and helpful for the client.

Clients will also be required to actively engage in the ongoing review and maintenance of how the support is progressing and whether or not their goals are being met.

Case Management may be initiated by your Counsellor, by your Doctor or by other Health Workers. Again, you will be involved in the decision making processes about whether this is beneficial for you. You can find more information about Case Management for Mental Health issues readily on the internet. If you have any questions please use the contact form or ask us when you have your next session.

What to expect

You will be listened to
You will be supported
We will work it out
We’ll help you make your own decisions
We’ll help you achieve your goals

What is Hypnosis and is it right for you?

When you were born did you have to learn how to breathe? Or blink? Did you have to learn how to sleep? Or how to digest?  Are you even conscious of the many things that you do daily to keep yourself alive and active? Do you ever find yourself choosing certain behaviours over others and then later wonder what came over you? Have you ever blushed in public or tried to conceal a habit you have?

There are many things that make us who we are and we aren’t aware of all of these.  Many simply take place beyond our consciousness.  All of this is perfectly natural, and hypnosis is simply a mechanism by which we can connect with these areas of ourselves, in order to make the changes we seek. A lot of things we want to know and maybe change about ourselves activate from our subconscious so it makes sense to work with this natural part of us. 

What can hypnosis be used for?

Hypnosis can be used to help you relax and sleep better.  It can be used to speak to the parts of yourself that know how to regulate those parts that keep you fit and slim and alert.  It can be used to break habits you might want to break, like smoking.  It can be used to regulate pain.  It can be used to learn new subjects, to enjoy public speaking, to become better at your choice of sports.  It can be used therapeutically to overcome phobias, to destress, to address depression and trauma.  It can be used for all these things and more because it is a natural method you already use. 

How does hypnosis work?

When we go to sleep at night we experience a REM state, hypnosis can be considered the same state, only you are awake.  Most people prefer to close their eyes. Whilst in this state it is easier to speak direct to your subconscious so that the thoughts in your conscious that may have been annoying you by telling you what you can’t do, are momentarily resting, so that you are able to make your desired breakthroughs.

Is therapeutic hypnosis handing over control?

It is smart to be fully aware of what you want the session to achieve beforehand.  Hypnosis is successfully used to fix faulty pattern matching belief systems and replace these with pattern matches that achieve what you are hoping to achieve with the sessions. The hypnotherapist is there to support this. Just like counselling, the hypnotherapist is there to support you with their knowledge and skills.  They are not there to live your life for you. 

Do I have to know if I want hypnosis when I book a session or can I just come for counselling or astrological counselling?

Some clients prefer to work through things for a couple of sessions until they discover enough to know what they really want from the therapy.  Then later, might decide to use hypnotherapy to help them achieve what they are seeking relief from, or support with.  Others find that hypnosis provides them with exactly what they are looking for.  We are all individuals.  We are all different.  And those challenges we meet through life are also different. 

This is why a free 20 minute consultation is available to you so that you can decide what modality works best for you now at this time in your life.  You can ask any questions you have during this booking. 

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Build your toolkit for your life
We’re here to help you
Create the life you choose

What is Astrological Counselling?

A lot of what we know about Science and Medicine today came from Astrological knowledge originally. Carl Jung was an Astrologer. Nicholas Culpepper (Healing with Herbs) was also an Astrologer, as were many others you might be interested to discover. I hope you enjoy the very small amount set out here about the use of Astrology in Counselling, for those who are interested in this area of research.

Whether we utilise the Jungian Psychology of Archetypes or work in more mathematically inclined cyclic information and discourse, the Astrology Chart, you will see for yourself, can be amazingly helpful to you. Especially during times of confusion and great change. Like there are different branches and perspectives of Psychology, and Therapeutic Techniques based on these perspectives, likewise there are different branches of Astrology and the perspectives and discourse that go with these. A very helpful thing about using Astrology in Counselling is that the Chart itself helps you to comprehend the different perspectives as well as how to work with them.

All Counselling is about assisting you to help yourself. The mission of all good Counsellors is to support our Clients to get to this point where we are no longer needed at all. Of course we all benefit from talking to someone, even if it is only to hear our own voices. When working with Astrology or Psychology Clients learn different techniques you can use outside the Counselling and in doing so you develop greater understanding of yourself and of others. In this way Counselling, whether Astrological or not, is a wonderful Gift you give yourself.

What is an Astrology Chart?

An Astrology Chart is a wheel drawn into 12 sections, which reveals many influences that we may not think possible to reveal about us. The mathematics involved vary with the kind of Astrology being utilised, but basically the popular Western Tropical calculations are based on the Sun and the Equator.

Latitude and Longitude calculations are important in the calculation, therefore your place of birth and time of birth provide the raw data required to form your Chart. This is usually done using program software these days and can even be obtained freely on the internet.

If I am depressed and suicidal how can Astrology help me?

Interestingly like we grow plants in our gardens, there are times when plants can’t find the impulse to grow. These are natural cycles. As we begin to understand ourselves in terms of cycles when things are suitable and those when they aren’t we become less anxious that there is “something wrong with me”, and more accepting of things outside of our control.

There are also techniques that can be easily learned and utilised during the most confusing and saddest times of our lives that we can have always. Astrology is Life enhancing, it is there to be used by us as we see fit. We can choose to walk against the wind or use the wind in our sails to move us exponentially forward in a direction of our choosing.

Sometimes a little mathematical proof is just what the doctor ordered, in order to open us up for new growth and new experiences.

What is our relationship to power?

This might seem a strange question to put into this Q&A. However, many of life’s issues are based in power structures. Our relationship to power is visible in our charts. For those who are ready to uncover their own position on power the Astrology Chart can tell us much.

It provides us with questions we may never have thought to ask ourselves, that just might turn out to be the very questions that might change and emancipate us from current torments.

What is ‘Venusian Astrology’ and how is this different to other types of Astrology?

Venusian Astrology is a perspective that has as its foundation the value of every human being. By using this perspective our natural urge to grow is nurtured through revealing to you your core confidence. Confidence may not be what you think it is. We aren’t talking about being confident about being able to do something.

Confidence, as it relates to Value, goes much deeper than this. In fact you can be confident but unable to do lots of things! But once you recognize your own Value, your own Confidence, you will Know and Live this. Perhaps you already do.

How can an Astrology Chart help me if I’m feeling confused and upset?

Counselling, whether using CBT, ACT, Narrative, Gestalt, Astrology, or any or all these and other therapeutic methods is about assisting clients to be able to help themselves. “Know Thyself” is an edict attributed to Astrology. Opening up the multi-layered beauty of Astrology to a client can be of enormous help to enable clients to be able to draw on Astrology itself, but also their own chart, for inspiration and self-support.

But even if you never reach for Astrology again, it can be used as a kind of short-hand method that enables a Counsellor to understand you more fully. Often when Clients come to Counsellors, they are ‘out of sorts’, not really ‘being themselves’, or that’s how they often feel, or perhaps they wouldn’t even be there.

Astrology allows for these bursts of time periods, whilst respecting the overall integrity of the Client as a fully multi-layered individual with a great deal of attributes, values and confidences, even while these may be hidden during these perceived difficult times.

Do you use Astrology in Couples Therapy?

That’s entirely up to the couple. Astrology can be very useful here. For example, let’s say one partner has a 10th House pronounced Astrologically, which might mean they are driven in their career, always working on it, eager to be publicly recognized. Let’s say the other partner has a 5th house focus of children and wants the other to spend time with the children before they grow up unrecognizably. Both are valid.

A very wonderful thing about Astrology, and perhaps the thing that can be the most annoying about Astrology, is that once we realise ourselves through Astrology it is impossible not to realise another human being with different placements, therefore all their interests and values and needs may be very different to our own. Yet we must validate these for them.

So how do we communicate then? Well, Astrology also reveals to us the dynamics of a relationship. So, often again, where therapy can get to these same conclusions Astrology may provide us with information about where to look for them easily. Astrology does not prevent life from presenting us with challenges.

It just describes the challenges we face a bit more clearly. Even if there are no issues in your relationship attending an online seminar in couples Astrology can be fascinating and insightful for any relationship.

Can Astrology help me with career counselling?

Yes. By highlighting and talking about those tendencies towards certain careers over others, and why they exist. How they might play out for us. What kinds of challenges they may present to us. And how they fit into the overall chart of our multi-layered existence.

Different Therapies

Sometimes people get frightened about Counselling because someone tells them that the Counsellor will be using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy on them. Actually this therapy is very common and nothing to be frightened of at all.

Here we look at this and a few other popular therapies your Counsellor might suggest you and they work with, depending upon what it is you want to achieve from your sessions. So you will know what they are talking about when they suggest these therapies.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a form of talking therapy which can help you to manage your stress and anxiety. It is a form of psychotherapy which is based on the principle that how we think about things affects how we feel.

Acceptance Commitment Therapy

Acceptance Commitment Therapy is a therapy that does not seek to eradicate issues and challenges but to be aware so as not to be fully attached where we get stuck. Mindfulness (living in the present awareness), cognitive diffusion (relating to issues from difference perspectives), the observing self, values, and commitment are some of the key components of this therapy.

Solutions Focused Therapy

Solutions Focused Therapy is an approach to therapy that is based on the idea that solutions are more important than problems. The focus of the therapy is on the client’s strengths and resources and how they can be used.

Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Therapy is an experiential form of psychotherapy that was developed by Fritz Perls in the 1940s. It is based on the idea that the mind and body are connected and that the mind can be influenced.

Rewind Technique

Rewind Technique therapy is a technique, which addresses trauma and phobias. Its goal is to shift the trauma to the processed memory location, where it becomes diluted of its impact.

Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy is a humanistic approach to psychotherapy that focuses on the story of a person’s life. The main goal of Narrative Therapy is to help clients find meaning and purpose in their life.

Are we right for you?

Free 20 minute discovery consults available.

Free Discovery Consult

20 Minutes Zoom Call

FREE

Counselling Session

50 Minutes Zoom Call

$150

Astrological Counselling

50 Minutes Zoom Call

$150

Hypnosis

50 Minutes Zoom Call

$150

Qualifications

MBA, Dip. Couns, Hypnosis, NLP and Astrologer

The Rewind Technique for Trauma Therapy

Conversational Reframing for Hypnosis, NLP and other Therapies

Lifting Depression through Counselling

Direct and Indirect Hypnosis Techniques

ICBCH – Clinical Hypnosis Training Jan 2018

Customers Ask Us

Who was Carl Rogers, and what is PCT Person Centred Therapy?

Carl Rogers was an American Psychologist in the 1940s who is often referred to as the Father of Counselling. He believed that people naturally grow towards their full potential. He developed PCT, or Person Centred Therapy, which has been successfully used to address problems such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders and addiction, and other issues.

For Rogers the Client themselves is personally responsible for improving their life, with the Counsellor present to support them by truly listening and understanding and providing positive regard to the client. This is a non-directive approach to counselling. Many counsellors will use PCT in combination with other counselling therapies, depending upon what the Client prefers and what the Counsellor offers.

What kinds of therapies do Counsellors use?

There are many different kinds of therapies available. Counsellors will often have studied and practised techniques from a variety of methods and you may find yourself working with these with your Counsellor. Some of the key therapies that are popular for Clients and Counsellors are CBT – Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, PCT – Person Centred Therapy, ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Narrative Therapy, SFT – Solutions Focused Therapy and Gestalt Therapy.

Within and around the above are practices such as Somatic Therapies, Hypnosis, Art Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Decision Making Techniques and more. Counsellors have a wealth of wisdom and techniques to draw upon and will utilise those techniques that best address what you the Client wants to achieve. If you have any questions about the therapies used then it is always a good idea to discuss these with your Counsellor, either during the first sessions or follow up sessions.

How do you know if Counselling works?

Counselling is usually structured and most Counsellors will work with you to get you to set goals for those things you want to achieve through Counselling. Counsellors will usually work out with you where you feel you are at the beginning and then periodically you and your counsellor will return to check for progress. For example, maybe you have a fear of flying.

Then if your fear diminishes it is pretty obvious that it worked. But not all issues can be obviously assessed like this. Sometimes other people close to you notice you behaving more confidently and contributing more. It’s always good to receive feedback from others as we don’t often see ourselves as we change, and it is easy to forget what we used to be like.

Counsellors are trained to use tried and tested techniques and therapies that enable both you and them to know whether your counselling sessions are actually working for you. They will often use metrics where they ask you scale questions. On a scale of 1-10 how much do you think this issue affects your life? And it is the Counsellor’s objective to get you to where you want to be successfully, so that you feel confident to carry through on your own without the counsellor moving forward. This is always the best indicator of a successful Counselling relationship.

Good Counsellors always encourage Clients to take the lead and engage fully in their own Counselling. This isn’t always easy for Clients at the start, especially if they are young, or suffering from grief or trauma, but a good Counsellor will be able to offer support to enable all Clients to increase their self confidence and to make and achieve desired outcomes.

How many sessions are needed for Counselling or does it just keep going?

No. It doesn’t just keep going. The amount of sessions depend upon several possible criteria including:

The nature of what you want to achieve from Counselling. Sometimes as little as one session is enough

The cost of the sessions often dictate the quantity of sessions. Where this is the case the Counsellor and Client may work with techniques that are brief and affective and choose the priority goal(s) only to ensure success within a short timeframe.

The objective of counselling is to plan an exit strategy, that is a time when the client will not need or want to meet with the counsellor because they are satisfied that they achieved what they wanted. This may take 3, 6 or 10 sessions. Counsellors will often be able to predict the amount of sessions that most likely will be required to achieve what they help the client the to aim for in the sessions.

Can Counsellors make referrals?

Yes. Counsellors can make referrals and often do. Counsellors can write to another service practitioner and request they assist their clients. Sometimes Case Management is put into place, where a Team is structured to assist the Client across areas the Client and Counsellor feel is needed.

If I am not happy with the Counselling can I cancel sessions previously agreed to?

It would be very rare indeed for any Counsellor to hold any client to a set of sessions if the Client did not want to participate. The whole purpose of Counselling is for Counsellors to support Clients to make decisions for themselves. The Counsellor may certainly enquire what prompted this and ask you for feedback. By giving feedback you will help them to help their other clients better.

Or maybe you want to stop because you feel resistant to working to change. Many clients come up against resistance to change and often by working on this with their Counsellor, they make it through this and any other obstacle to the success of the counselling.

It is always good to show respect to your Counsellor by providing feedback whenever possible. Sometimes, you may find that given a little more time you may be eager to continue the Counselling. We all live and work through things at our own pace. Counsellors are sensitive to this.