Professional Counselling, South Devon and online
Explore, Understand, Evolve
What happens in counselling or psychotherapy?
Many people who come to therapy aren’t fully sure what they want help with — only that something doesn’t feel right. That’s enough to begin.
Therapy usually involves three interweaving stages: EXPLORE; UNDERSTAND; EVOLVE.
We start by exploring your situation - the things that are troubling you as well as your resources for handling stress and distress. Exploring what's really going on is not something to be rushed. As well as thinking about what's happening now, we look back - thinking about your early upbringing and family relationships, school days - and we look forward - do you know where you would like to get to? Or do you just need to stop and take stock of what is going on?
Through the process of exploration, making connections, developing insight and self-compassion, we arrive at deeper understanding of how you have got to where you are at this point in your life. It's important that this understanding is underpinned with deep self (and other) compassion: that you are able to reach a point of greater awareness of how your internal world has emerged in response to the environment(s) you've traversed so far in your life.
And - with this exploration and understanding you may find that you sense a shift in attitude, in ability to be with yourself and others, and perhaps, a readiness to make some changes (internal or external)... to evolve.
You're always in control of what you want to talk about. I don't push you to talk about anything before you're ready to do so. And sometimes, therapy is about finding the words to express what hasn't yet been said.