Talking therapies
Talking therapies can help with common mental health problems such as stress, anxiety or depression, and seeking support when you are having difficulties can reduce the impact you feel.
Counselling can be helpful for a wide range of symptoms, including:
• Anxiety
• Feeling low, hopeless or stressed
• Difficulties coping with day to day life
• Struggling with panic attacks, flashbacks or nightmares
• Worries, obsessive thoughts or behaviours
• Struggling to cope with work, life, relationships or social situations
• Mental health struggles resulting from medical conditions such as cancer, HIV, pain or IBS.
Sessions are open ended, so you can come for as long as you need.
Creative counselling
Creative counselling can take many forms and can involve for example drawing; writing; using cards, images, or masks; objects such as buttons or stones; Russian dolls; sand tray; or miniatures. The choice is yours.
To give some examples-
Creative journaling uses images and words, and can be created by drawing, painting, collage, photographs or anything else you can think of to use. It works with both sides of the brain, (the left logical, linear half and the right emotional, visual hemisphere) and can be used to explore feelings, thoughts, desires, dreams and plans.
Lego can be used in many ways in therapy, from making models to help you talk about an issue or express yourself, to representing the people around you, to connecting with your inner child. It can be a creative medium for those who don’t feel they can draw or paint confidently, or a medium in its own right.
A photograph, postcard or image can be chosen and explored, or included as part of a timeline looking at where you’ve come from or want to go to.
Parent Led CBT for Children with Anxiety
Over a series of 6 sessions parents and carers are supported in applying cognitive behavioural therapy techniques with children who have anxiety. Various tasks are completed between sessions, both by the parent and with the child. Parents are given the skills to support their child’s independent problem solving and face their fears. It can also help to address accompanying problems such as school refusal, or sleeping issues. These sessions can be done as part of a group, or individually with the therapist.
EFT (Tapping)
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) has grown from holistic therapies such as accupressure, energy work and neuro-linguistic programming. It is based on the premise there are channels of energy within the body (meridians) that can become blocked, and when this happens it can lead to emotional and physical symptoms.
EFT is non-invasive, and in a similar way to acupuncture, (but without the needles), it releases blocked energy. Tapping on specific points on the body, while verbalising set phrases or affirmations, works to clear meridian blockages.
EFT tackles the root cause of the issue, rather than simply the symptoms, so can have a long lasting impact. Alongside other forms of support it is a technique that is especially useful for issues such as:
• addictions
• fears and phobias
• pain management
• stress, anxiety and panic attacks
• weight loss
• trauma
Once you are familiar with the process you can continue to use EFT alone, and as it requires no equipment is something you can do anywhere, anytime it’s needed.
Our Counsellor is Clare Whitworth.