Steve Smith
Counselling and CBT in Balham and online
What is counselling?
Counselling gives you the opportunity to talk about your thoughts and feelings and in doing so find solutions to problems or dilemmas you feel comfortable with.
Many people find that just having the chance to speak freely with somebody who is not personally involved and isn't going to make judgements or give opinions is very helpful.
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Working together with a trained counsellor allows you to look at your life in ways you may not have considered before and to gain insight and understanding.
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Exploring the assumptions you have about yourself and about life may reveal how they are holding you back and lead you to reassess or challenge those assumptions.
Counselling or psychotherapy?
To some extent the terms 'counselling' and 'psychotherapy' are interchangeable. 'Psychotherapy' sometimes implies that the therapy will be longer term and some practioners also use the term to indicate a higher level of academic therapy training. It is not necessarily the case that someone who describes themself as a psychotherapist will be more highly qualified or more experienced than someone who uses the the term counsellor.
Will my privacy be respected?
Anything said in the counselling room is completely confidential. The only exception to this is if a client seems to be at immediate risk of harming themselves or others. Any disclosure would be discussed with the client first.