How Counselling Works
There are many different types of counselling/psychotherapy. There's Person-Centred counselling, Psychodynamics, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Transactional Analysis...the list goes on. And even within these fields, each practitioner takes their own approach, meaning no two counselling experiences will ever be the same.
I am Integratively trained, meaning that I get to pick-and-choose the best bits of a number of theoretical approaches--predominately Person-Centred and Psychodynamic--to give each client the best 'package' possible. Here's how:
Person-Centred counselling essentially focuses on our experiences in the moment, and is more a 'state of being' than a theory: learning to accept that our emotions are genuine, and that there's no 'right' or 'wrong' way to feel. We are who we are, and that's all right; we each matter. This outlook, simple though it sounds, is often completely unknown to clients, and can be very powerful when experienced for the first time--especially for someone who has spent their entire life feeling that they are somehow less worthy of care than the people around them.
Psychodynamic counselling is a bit more practical in its approach, looking at how we actually became the person we are today, and aiming first to identify and then to challenge the underlying beliefs/values that get in the way of our contentment with life. These beliefs, often learned at a very young age, came into being because at the time we simply couldn't have survived without them--a crude example would be, "I mustn't touch this hot radiator because it will burn me." The problem only comes when these patterns of behaving, often called defence mechanisms, outstay their usefulness--e.g. if we were to spend our whole lives afraid to be in a room with any radiator, hot or cold, for fear of being burned.
This, then, is what you could expect if you were to engage me as your counsellor: Person-Centred Daniel will offer you a safe, warm environment, in which you can feel fully appreciated for who you are and so learn to appreciate yourself for who you are; while Psychodynamic Daniel will help you explore and challenge the ideas that have punished you for so long for simply daring to live.
If this sounds like something you would be interested in trying, or if you have any specific questions not covered in this admittedly simplistic overview, I would be overjoyed to hear from you.