Counselling is a form of compassionate attention: attention that a counsellor gives you, but more essentially, attention that in sessions you give yourself, particularly at times of acute emotional distress. In counselling we can look at experiences that are affecting your life, some of which might be:
- loss
- low mood
- anxiety
- a major life transition
- relationships
- existential questions (particularly in later life)
- questions about personal identity
and we will work through any distress you bring.
However, you do, of course, also bring yourself to counselling. As counselling progresses, so a story unfolds that is unique to you, meaningful to you, created by you and often unheard by you until you at last sit down and engage with yourself.
This process leads to understanding and you can use that understanding to shape decisions. But therapeutic ‘understanding’, while illuminating, isn’t restricted simply to thought. It is also a process of profound emotional, relational and soulful engagement that over time enables you to hear, see and accept what you are and embrace what you might become.
Kathryn Mead 