therapies - Psychotherapy & Counselling

Shelagh Brown Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling

We all have different ways of coping with difficult feelings, troublesome thoughts and challenging situations. Some of us may try talking to family, friends or colleagues. Some of us keep our feelings all to ourselves. We may try to distract ourselves with different activities or, less helpfully, drink and drugs. Alternatively we may find ourselves brooding over problems, unable to find a way out of our thoughts and feelings.

What are Counselling and Psychotherapy?
Counselling and psychotherapy offer the opportunity to discuss whatever challenges you might be facing with someone with the professional skills and experience to help you explore the issues. They offer a uniquely private and confidential space to share your thoughts and feelings with someone and, together, to find a way to move forward.
There are many similarities between counselling and psychotherapy and our practitioners are trained in both approaches. Typically counselling is suitable for short-term help on a particular issue whereas psychotherapy can help with longer-standing problems

What is Coaching?
Coaching is a specialised form of counselling that focuses on work-related issues, or work/ life balance. Coaching can help at particular decision points in your career or it can help you to become more effective in your current work.

How does it work in practice?
The number of sessions varies. At an initial session we would scope out the issues to be addressed and decide together how to take things forward. It may be appropriate to agree a fixed number of sessions at the outset, this could be any number of sessions from 4 to 24, or alternatively we may agree to a more open-ended contract. Either way, we would make a commitment to regular weekly meetings. Each session lasts 50 minutes.

Who will I see?
Shelagh Brown is a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor accredited with the UKCP and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy. She is a former nurse, midwife and health visitor and has worked as a counsellor in GP practices and in private practice.