Ellen Sharrocks Counselling Leicester

Counselling FAQs

What is Better - Online for Face-to-Face Counselling?
Research indicates that online and face-to-face therapy are equally as effective. However, there are differences.

With face-to-face counselling, there is the consistency of coming to the same place every time, work through your problems, then go about your day, leaving behind counselling until next time. With online counselling, it is more difficult to 'leave behind' the therapy when it takes place in your own home.

Being together in person also engages all of the senses, allowing for full non-verbal communication between therapist and counsellor. With online counselling, the senses are limited to just sound and vision and it is more difficult to see each other's non-verbal communication. However, those senses can often become more acute, and so is less of a limiting factor than might initially seem.

Most of the people I work with prefer face-to-face counselling, perhaps temporarily moving online for a session or two if it becomes necessary. However for some people, online counselling is ideal. For example, people with mobility issues (my room is up two flights of stairs), live outside of the local area, or whose work schedule means that it wouldn't be possible to get to a counselling appointment in time.

I predominantly offer face-to-face counselling, but am more than happy to offer online therapy if a client requests it. If you would want counselling to be online, just let me know.

What Is The Best Type Of Therapy For Me?
Have you researched therapy and got confused by the myriad types of counselling and therapy there are? If so, you are most definitely not alone! From CBT through to Psychodynamic, Person Centred and many, many more. Each person is unique so having the choice is important. To help you choose, This is my break-down of the therapy types found most often in private practice:

  • Cognitive and Behavioural (including CBT, DBT, Solution Focused)
  • Relational (including Person-Centred, Humanistic, Emotion Focused, Contemporary Psychodynamic)
  • Integrative (Includes any type of therapy that is right for the client and the counsellor feels comfortable working with)

    The cognitive and behavioural therapist tends to focus on your unhelpful thought patterns and help you to learn to think differently. They also examine your behaviour and encourage you to behave differently. They provide education on what is happening to you and encourage you to look for solutions to your problems so that you can manage them.

    The relational therapies work at a deeper level. Together, you and your counsellor explore the difficult emotions, thoughts and behaviours you are struggling with. Feelings are worked through, situations and relationships are examined, thoughts and behaviours are explored. This unpicking and working through helps you understand and make sense of what is going on for you. This helps you to process difficult feelings. Difficult situations and relationships can be put into an appropriate place so that your life is not overwhelmed by them.

    The integrative counsellor works with different counselling models. Some focus more on the cognitive and behavioural types of therapy whilst integrating some relational counselling models if it seems necessary. Others focus on the relational counselling models, bringing in some of the cognitive and behavioural types of thinking if it is appropriate. Some counsellors are trained in integrative counselling from the start. Other train in one specific type of therapy, then through continuing professional development and experience, integrate other models into their way of working.

    Whilst some counsellors in private practice work purely from a cognitive and behavioural or relational perspective, many integrate different ways of working into their practice. I work primarily with relational therapy models. I trained in Contemporary Psychodynamic Counselling, a relational way of working that incorporates psychoanalytic thinking. I integrate other relational models and work with some elements of the more cognitive and behavioural models if it seems necessary and appropriate.

    When is the Right Time to Finish Counselling?
    The short answer to this question is when it feels the right time to do so.
    At some point during therapy, you will probably start to wonder whether it's time to bring counselling to an end. You may or may not be sure, and you may or may not feel a little nervous about the prospect. The best thing to do is bring it up with your counsellor. We can then explore your thoughts and feelings about ending therapy and together think about whether it is the right time to end. If it is, we can agree an end date and work towards bringing our 'therapeutic relationship' to an end.

    FAQ: Should I Start Taking Anti-Depressants for my Mental Health Issues?
    This is a question I am sometimes asked. Taking psychiatric medication can prove helpful as a short-term measure although some people find the experience unpleasant. You may find it helpful to do some independent research and discuss the advantages and disadvantages with your GP or other prescriber.

    FAQ: Can I Come Back to Counselling If I Need To?
    Most people find counselling really helpful and at some point, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, they will finish counselling. One thing that can stop people from bringing up the fact that they feel ready to leave is that they are worried they will "slip back" and won't be able to come back to counselling.

    Now let's face it - life happens. Most people are absolutely fine, armed with the understanding and strengthened sense of self they've gained in counselling, they can face life events head on and don't feel the need to come back to counselling. However, life isn't always like that and sometimes things can rock even the most confident and self-assured of people. Or things can slowly start to become that little bit too much over the course of time and old ways of being gradually come to the fore. Just because you've had counselling once, it doesn't mean that counselling is no longer an option should it be needed.

    So can you come back to counselling if you need to? Absolutely! For those that do, they often find themselves working at a deeper level than before, and come away with even greater resilience and self-acceptance than before.

    When Will I Know it's Time to Finish Counselling?
    Sometimes someone will ask me if they are ready to leave counselling. This is a question any counsellor cannot answer themselves. Often this question is asked because the client feels ready to leave, but is a little nervous about 'going it alone'. Ending our time together is your decision which is why, as your counsellor, I will help you explore where you are now against where you were when we first met. In that exploration I will help you consider whether it is time to finish and if so, we will set a date for the final session. We will then have the opportunity to reflect on your counselling journey and process the ending of our time together.

    Should I Start Taking Anti-Depressants for my Mental Health Issues?
    This is a question I am sometimes asked. Taking psychiatric medication can prove helpful as a short-term measure although some people find the experience unpleasant. You may find it helpful to do some independent research and discuss the advantages and disadvantages with your GP or other prescriber. You may find the summary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Prescribed Drug Dependence information a useful starting point. You can access this by clicking on Resources & Useful Links in the menu bar.

    How Long will I Need Counselling For?
    A question I am often asked, and I find impossible to answer! Each person is unique, bringing their own individual character, personality, difficulties, emotions, background, experiences and lifestyle. Counselling is like unravelling a tightly knotted ball of string. Different parts of the string are worked on and often revisited. During this process, the string starts to unravel, straighten out, become useable again. In the same way as the knotted ball of string being picked at and unravelled, we work together to unpick what is going on for you in different areas of your life. This helps you process your experiences and resolve those difficult to resolve emotional and relational issues.

    Why is Counselling Weekly?
    I only offer weekly counselling sessions and some people wonder why this is. The answer is that research has shown, time and again, that it is the therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client that makes the biggest difference in the effectiveness of counselling. This therapeutic relationship is best built, and maintained, through regular, weekly sessions. If you are interested in counselling, and are able to commit to weekly sessions, then please contact me and we can take it from there.

    When Will I Know it's Time to Finish Counselling?
    Sometimes someone will ask me if they are ready to leave counselling. This is a question any counsellor cannot answer themselves. Often this question is asked because the client feels ready to leave, but is a little nervous about 'going it alone'. Ending our time together is your decision which is why, as your counsellor, I will help you explore where you are now against where you were when we first met. In that exploration I will help you consider whether it is time to finish and if so, we will set a date for the final session. We will then have the opportunity to reflect on your counselling journey and process the ending of our time together.

    Counselling or Therapy - which is it?
    Some people talk about seeing a counsellor, others talk about seeing a therapist. People talk about going to counselling, or they talk about their therapy. This is also often hotly debated within the therapy world! As a BACP accredited counsellor/psychotherapist, I view them as different terms for the same thing. I suggest you go for whatever term you feel most comfortable with - the therapy process is the same.

  • Why Choose Private Counselling?
    If you choose private counselling rather than counselling through the NHS, you have choice ...
  • Together with your counsellor, you can choose to have as many or as few sessions as you need
  • You choose your counsellor
  • You choose the type of support you feel is right for you.

    As well as having a choice, you do not have to go on a long waiting list to seek the support you need. If the counsellor you choose doesn't have suitable availability you can go elsewhere. Some counsellors hold a waiting list, myself included, but it is a choice to go on it, not a necessity.



     

click
©2024 Ellen Sharrocks — powered by WebHealer
Website Cookies  Privacy Policy  Administration