Neurodiversity Affirmative Counsellor, Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor
emmawestoncounselling@proton.me
A Neurodiversity Affirmative Approach
What is Counselling?
Counselling offers a safe, confidential, non-judgmental and accepting space to think and talk about yourself, your experience, and your life. It can help you to make any changes that you would like to happen. It may also be able to offer insights and help you to work on patterns of behaviour in a safe and confidential space. Counselling can help people to discuss their feelings openly and honestly.
We all experience times when things aren't going the way we might like. We can find ourselves anywhere from a bit grey and unhappy to extremely dark and depressed, overwhelmed, stressed and spun out. We can get stuck in negative patterns of thinking which are difficult to break, become worried or anxious about the future, or unable to reconcile past decisions. A neutral space to think and feel can be extremely useful.
What to expect
I will ask what brings you to counselling in our exploratory appointment. It is helpful me to know what the presenting issue is and whether you have had therapy before. We can both ask questions in our first meeting to determine if we will be good fit.
If we are a good fit and we decide to proceed with booking some appointments, I will send you a working agreement/contract and part of this includes completing some forms which I will discuss with you in our first appointment/assessment.
Most therapy takes place in planned, regular sessions which last for around 50 minutes. The number of appointments would depend on your presenting issues and you decide how many appointments you need.
During a session, we may go through specific exercises designed to help with your problem, or you might have more general discussions about how you're feeling.
You’ll get the best results from your therapy if you’re open and honest and say how you’re really feeling.
The therapeutic relationship is very important. If we are to work effectively together, you should feel safe and able to take risks by disclosing and discussing sensitive issues. That includes being able to give honest feedback on how you feel about your therapy and how you’re working together.
People come to counselling for a variety of reasons, it may be that you would like to:
· Explore your identity and your sense of self
. Develop better self awareness
. Talk about your childhood
. Discuss your thoughts, feelings, emotions or behaviour
· Work through a loss, bereavement, relationship break-up, or redundancy
. Talk about situations you find difficult
· Increase your confidence, self-esteem or self-image
. Reflect on past and present life events
· Work on patterns of behaviour that may be causing you concern
· Discuss feelings of depression, anxiety, sadness, loneliness or emptiness
· Find more of a sense of purpose in life, to feel less stuck
· Try and resolve some issues from the past
· Feel more comfortable expressing your sexuality
· Work through a situation currently affecting your work life
· Develop a better understanding of your relationship issues
· Be able to resolve a family conflict
· Talk about something you have been bottling up
· Work on skills to connect with people and make lasting relationships
· Develop communication skills & become more assertive
· Develop better understanding of your partner & yourself
