What is counselling?
… one to one counselling focuses on you the person and can help you discover who you really are and where you really want to be. Your true self and your wanted destination! One to one counselling can give you a clearer visualisation of your pathway forward, and strengthen all your senses to enable you to see yourself from your outside world more clearly. It is goal orientated with measured progress. It can be whatever you want it to be and can even be just in place to support you through a difficult time; however, its a process, even though every session counts as one step forward or several. This means with every session you have you the client will know if its working for you, or not. You only book your next session at your last session and so its ongoing according to the progress you feel you are making.
Seeing and feeling ourselves from the outside looking in, as well as seeing and feeling ourselves on the inside looking out, can help build a bigger picture; your perception of your true world, and yourself within the true world you perceive. With a therapist like myself the missing pieces can be accessed and put into place so that you have more information to make better decisions for yourself about your therapy goals.
In life, at times, you may feel emotionally entwined and become entangled in negative psychological patterns as we all will, and do. Meeting your true self in a confidential, professional environment where you feel understood can ground and support you in a world that is constantly evolving, or a world that has been disturbed by losses, trauma, adjustment, or life change of circumstances.
Counselling is where you and I would meet regularly; initially once a week, in a safe neutral confidential warm space. The aim is that you would feel listened to (heard), receive empathy (feel understood), in an environment that is warm as well as professional, and where you will not feel judged Such an environment would help trust to build over a period of time, where you would be able to explore yourself and the issues, or the issues and yourself, on a much deeper level over time.
People engage in therapy for many different psychological and/or practical reasons, however, a psychological imbalance can occur in anyone’s life, at any time. A psychological imbalance can result from experiences such as loss and/or bereavement, which may impact on other areas of your life, for example; work performance, personal and professional relationships and can even lead to additive behaviours or repeated negative cycles.
Most people are not aware of the bereavement and loss process. If you are in it, life may feel very chaotic and non-nonsensical and you maybe unable to identify issues, and thus unable to manage issues where you have no awareness. The obvious kinds of loss such bereavement maybe clear to us that we are struggling because of the loss, but there are many kinds of loss; some that we are not even aware of which can impact on our psychological well-being. Once you are aware and have insight you can acknowledge the awareness, and become more aware of what you are dealing with, and work towards a healthier you. One aspect of our work together is that I, the Therapist, can act as your outside world and reflect back to you what is seen outside of the internal emotional difficulties. While you may be emotionally caught up in the difficulties on the inside, with the help of a professional therapist like myself, you can obtain and see the ‘bigger picture’ which is objective as well as subjective.
Issues can arise at any time in a person’s life and can leave the person feeling troubled, or even feeling paralysed, and unable to move forward without knowing why. Personal issues can be further complicated when they arise in our relationships; especially relationships that are very important to us.
As well as identifying the current issues and their roots, integrative therapy allows an opportunity to explore how the past may be affecting the present, where once you have a clearer picture of the past and a better understanding of why you are, where you are, you can then look forward, feeling more empowered, and choose to do something positive which will help you to move towards taking control of the issues, rather than the issues taking control of the you.
I work with people with many different issues, however, I prefer to work addressing the whole person and not just their issues. Although, I do provide counselling specifically for the person who is looking to address the issues alone, like low self-esteem, anger management, stress management, relationships and more, as ultimately I work client autonomously which means I am predominantly client led (sometimes call person centred or humanistic counselling). This means, its your space, and I work with what you bring (or do not).
I work with individuals; (one to one), as well as with couples; (relationship focussed), short and/or long term. I have mentioned already my approach is integrative; which means I combine Humanstic Therapy (person centred), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (thoughts and feelings), and Psychodynamic Therapy (childhood and/or past issues/experiences). There is more information about the Integrative Counselling I offer on the next link.
One to one therapy can help a person to discover who they are, visualize themselves from the outside looking in, as well as the inside looking out, in a safe space; and warm professional environment where you will not be judged and free to explore. Once you understand the issues and yourself better you can then, with the help of a qualified therapist, build strategies that will enable and empower you to manage the issues and be the person you want to be.
Maggie Bell Counselling & Hypnotherapy (Bromley & Lewisham)
Where you can find me:
127 Portland Road
Bromley
Kent
BR1 5AY
Hope to hear from you.
Maggie
Call 07950 906421 or 07704 455944