A different approach to counselling and coaching
You shouldn't need to know which type of therapy you need
Choosing a counsellor can be confusing.
Person-centred, psychodynamic, Gestalt, CBT, ACT, integrative, counselling, psychotherapy, coaching… there are many different approaches. Unless you already know something about therapy, it can be difficult to know what any of them mean - let alone which might be right for you.
I don't think you should have to work that out before asking for help.
I'm trained as an integrative counsellor and coach, which gives us flexibility in both the therapeutic approaches we can draw on and the way we work together.
What does integrative counselling mean?
Different therapeutic approaches offer different ways of understanding people and what may help.
Working integratively means I can draw on different therapeutic ideas and techniques according to you and what seems useful, rather than expecting you to fit one particular model.
These include approaches that help us understand earlier experiences and relationships, present-focused work such as Gestalt, and more practical approaches such as CBT and ACT. I'm also informed by attachment theory, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Compassion Focused Therapy and the connection between mind and body.
You don't need to know which of these you need. That's something we can work out together.
How do counselling and coaching work together?
My postgraduate training was specifically designed to integrate counselling and coaching within one way of working.
Why does that matter?
Because sometimes what we need is understanding. We may need somewhere to talk, feel, make sense of what's happened or understand why we think, feel or respond as we do.
At other times, we may want to think about what we'd like to be different. That's where the coaching dimension of my training can become useful.
Understanding the foundations. And deciding what you want to build
I think of counselling and coaching a little like building a house.
Counselling can help us understand the foundations.
What are you feeling? What have been your experiences? Are there familiar patterns in the way you think, feel or relate? What might be happening beneath the thing you're struggling with now?
Coaching can help us consider what we want to build.
What do you want? What could be different? What choices do you have? What might help you move towards the life, relationships or way of being that you want?
A house needs strong foundations. Understanding them matters, but so does thinking about what you want to build. My training allows us to work with both.
And importantly, you don't need to finish counselling and then find a coach. We can move between these ways of working as your needs change.
What is Personal Consultancy?
The approach underpinning my training is called Personal Consultancy, a framework developed specifically to integrate counselling and coaching.
It describes four broad stages of working together:
1. Being heard: What's happening for you?
Space to talk about what’s happening and explore your experience, with the focus on listening and being heard.
2. Understanding: What's underneath it?
Making sense of feelings, experiences and patterns that may help explain what's happening now.
3. Exploring: What could be different?
Considering choices, possibilities and different ways of responding when you're ready.
4. Supporting change: How can the change be sustained?
Trying things out, learning from what happens and helping change become more established and sustainable.
In Personal Consultancy these stages are called Authentic Listening, Rebalancing, Generating and Supporting. They aren't rigid steps. We can move back and forth between them depending on what you need.
We can move between different ways of working
What you need from counselling may change as our work develops. At different points we might move between three different dimensions depending on what's most helpful. And we'll do this and at a pace that feels right for you.
Sometimes you may need me to listen and give you room to feel or think. At other times, questions, observations, psychological ideas, practical tools or help considering what to do next may be more useful. The point is having the flexibility to work in the way that's most useful to you.
Greater understanding can create greater choice
This idea sits at the heart of the way I work.
As we understand ourselves more fully, we can become more aware of what's happening while it's happening.
That awareness can create a little more space between what we feel and what we do - and sometimes, in that space, we discover we have more choice.
Progress doesn't always mean making a dramatic change. It might mean responding differently, accepting something you can't change, setting a boundary, understanding what you need or simply feeling more comfortable being yourself.
Do I need to choose between counselling and coaching?
You don't need to work this out before you contact me.
Some people come primarily for counselling whilst others have a clearer goal and are looking for coaching. Sometimes there's considerable overlap.
We can start with what's brought you here and what you're hoping for, and work out together what kind of support might be most useful. If we work together, the way we work can evolve as your needs change.