What is counselling?
Counselling provides a confidential therapeutic relationship in which you can explore experiences, emotions and difficulties that may be painful, confusing or difficult to manage alone.
People come to counselling for many different reasons. You may be experiencing anxiety, depression, bereavement, relationship difficulties or significant change. You may be living with the effects of trauma, abuse or sexual assault, struggling with experiences from earlier in life, or facing circumstances that have challenged your sense of safety, identity or direction.
At other times, there may be no single event or diagnosis. You may simply recognise that something is not right, that you are struggling emotionally, or that aspects of your life or relationships are no longer working as you would like them to.
Counselling creates space to understand these experiences within the context of your life, rather than treating distress as something that exists in isolation.
All Lewis Psychology therapists are trained in several counselling and psychotherapy models and work from what is known as an integrative perspective. This means your therapy is not restricted to one particular therapeutic approach but can be tailored to your individual needs.
Counselling and psychotherapy videos
Explore counselling and psychotherapy videos by Teresa Lewis, Founder and Clinical Director of Lewis Psychology.
What might we explore in counselling?
The focus of counselling depends upon what has brought you to therapy.
For some people, this involves having a safe therapeutic space in which to speak about experiences that have been difficult to disclose, understand or process. For others, therapy involves exploring emotions, relationships, conflicts or ways of coping that have become increasingly difficult.
Counselling can provide support with experiences including anxiety and depression, bereavement and loss, trauma, childhood experiences, abuse or sexual assault, relationship difficulties, low self-worth, workplace difficulties, illness and major life transitions.
The work may involve understanding the influence of the past, attending more closely to what is happening in the present, developing different ways of relating to yourself and others, or finding ways to live with experiences that cannot simply be changed or resolved.
What will therapy be like?
Your first sessions provide an opportunity for you and your therapist to begin understanding what has brought you to counselling, what is important to you and what you hope might change.
Your therapist will work actively and collaboratively with you. This may involve helping you make connections between past and present experiences, recognise patterns that are difficult to see from within them, develop greater insight into your thoughts, emotions and relationships, and understand some of the psychological processes underlying what you are experiencing.
Depending on your needs, your therapist may also offer psychoeducation, teach practical skills, introduce different ways of understanding an experience, gently challenge established perspectives or ways of responding, and help you experiment with different ways of approaching difficulties.
Therapy is not a predetermined process. The work develops as your understanding deepens, allowing the focus and therapeutic approach to respond to what emerges over time.
Book an appointment
Appointments are available to adults throughout the UK via Zoom or telephone.
You can view current availability, choose your therapist and book directly through our secure Client Portal.
