what patients say

“My first session seems a long time ago now and I was very distressed and down and facing difficult and complex issues. I had already explained some of this to someone over the phone and it helped assuming my counsellor already knew a bit.

I certainly found counselling helpful in several different ways. It helped to have a person I knew I could ‘unburden’ to. This helped me get on a normal footing with friends and family when they could not cope with what I needed. So the counselling sessions limited me and concentrated me. My counsellor was always professional and gave me encouragement to look at different ways and techniques of handling my problems. He always let me be in control and take responsibility for myself, but was quietly encouraging. He raised crucial questions, one of which was a big turning point for me. The issue of trust came up and was difficult but I felt safe to look at it. I got into a routine of preparing for my sessions and my journaling helped with that.

My counsellor walked with me and helped by pointing things out along the way.  I needed to feel that I could go at my own pace and in the end it did all take longer than we had originally thought but that worked better for me. I also was pleased that my counsellor was able to arrange some ‘wind down’ sessions instead of an abrupt end. It really helped. I have definitely seen the benefits of my counselling, in that I feel I have improved the way I deal with both the difficult and the better times. I feel more confident and have more energy.”

Burrswood Patient