What can I expect?
Some people will already have had a free 15 minute consultation over the telephone to discuss their concerns so some of the following will already be addressed. Otherwise, at the first appointment you will be asked about your current concerns, what led up to them and what you are hoping for from therapy. We usually take a brief history of your earlier life if it seems to be impacting on the present. If the focus of the concerns is known to be or thought to be rooted in the past then a more extensive history is taken to enhance understanding and insight of the therapist and maximise potential of constructive work.
What kind of therapy will it be?
Therapy is based on an integration of approaches or maybe biased towards one particular therapy if so indicated:
- humanistic therapy, particularly client centred and gestalt approach
- psychodynamic therapy
- cognitive-behavioural therapy within the framework of the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist.
- EMDR which is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, a technique used to assist in processing anxiety, tramatic exeriences and areas where therapy otherwise seems 'stuck'.
- telephone counselling or supervision and online therapy is increasingly popular as a mode of working since this is more flexible re times for appointments and allows people to access counselling, supervision and therapy even when travelling in business or when living geographically further afield from the physical setting of clinics.
What about confidentiality?
Material discussed will be confidential unless there are serious concerns about safety, either your own or someone else’s. In this case further support may be accessed as appropriate. In accordance with professional guidelines for good practice, therapists are required to attend regular consultancy with a colleague for their work in which key aspects will be discussed. However, the identity of clients remains anonymous. The same principles apply when considering supervision, consultancy, DCoP CoT and training arenas.
