Chapter overview
1 / Does Therapy Work for Everyone?
Therapy is a big investment physically, mentally and emotionally. If you are going to have therapy, please do it for yourself.
2 / Different Kinds of Therapy
What is the difference between private therapy, a self help book/course or NHS therapy?
3 / My Problem Is...
It is your time. Say what is on your mind the most, say what you want to change, say what is causing you physical and emotional pain.
4 / Therapy with a Difference
In my opinion, I’m no better than any other therapists. Nor are they any better than me. We are all different, and it is my uniqueness that makes me the therapist I am.
5 / Working with Your Issues
In this chapter we explore some of the areas I work with.
6 / Starting Therapy
Something I share with my clients before we start working together is to write down why they are coming for therapy, what they hope to change, “my reasons for doing this are…”
7 / The Sessions
You may not leave every session feeling ‘better’, sometimes what you explore stays with you. Sometimes you will leave with more questions that you need to explore alone. This is normal and is a sign of progress—as much as when you leave feeling happy.
8 / Exploring Death
The little waves come and go, you feel they are there but they are ok, not too much. Then every now and again, out of nowhere, the big wave comes and almost knocks you off your feet.
9 / Disability and Therapy
Having cerebral palsy from birth, my initial intention when starting Counselling with Chrissie was to work with people living with visible and non-visible disabilities. My blog explains why this didn’t happen.
10 / Young Adults and Therapy
If you hadn’t been shown how to cope during childhood, you will now have low resilience and become easily frustrated by everyday life events, such as college, university, work demands, relationships, problems communicating with people (not via technology), bereavement, money worries, demands on your time, being recognised as an adult by your family.
11 / Rejection and Therapy
As you grow up and start forming relationships, you may look for that ‘parent figure’ in friends, partners, therapists and even bosses.
12 / Men and Therapy
As a man you think, rape doesn’t happen to a man. It couldn’t happen as men were perpetrators not prey. It couldn’t happen to a man and the realisation when it does, confounds all sensibilities.