There are times when life is really hard. When nothing seems to be going well and you just can’t shake off feelings of deep sadness, isolation, guilt or maybe hopelessness.

Sometimes you know what has triggered this. Someone important in your life has died. Or perhaps they are very ill and you are caring for them. Maybe a relationship has ended and you are struggling to come to terms with it. Perhaps there are difficulties in your relationship with parents, siblings or children. You may have lost your job or your home. You may have health problems yourself. Perhaps you feel you are not living as your true self. What you do know is that you don’t want to keep feeling like this.

Perhaps you have felt unhappy for a very long time. You may be aware of the reason and be trying to make sense of it.  An unhappy childhood, deaths you have still not been able to come to terms with, abuse from within or outside your family. These things can cause long term difficulties that you may still be affected by.

Perhaps you are not sure why you are feeling so much pain or isolation, you just know that it has been going on a long time and you want it to go away. Your life is not going the way you would like it to and now you want to do something about this.

Whatever it may be, talking therapy is likely to be useful and is recommended by the NHS.  Your GP can probably refer you for counselling on the NHS or you can choose to arrange your own private counselling. NHS waiting lists can be quite long in some areas and going private will almost certainly mean you can choose to be seen sooner. Most (but not all) NHS counselling is also time limited which means you will be offered a fixed number of sessions. Private person-centred counsellors will offer short or long-term therapy depending on your needs.

Deciding to start counselling can be a bit daunting. It needn’t be. Whether you want to approach your GP, find out more about private counselling or approach me straight away – the choice is yours.  As your counsellor I will welcome you warmly and together we will work out how you can best address the issues that are weighing you down. Click here to view some information from the BACP about counselling that you may find useful.

You can ring me now on 07985685038 or email me at juliet.birkbeck@ntlworld.com

If I’m not immediately available leave a message and I will get back to you within a few hours. It would be good to hear from you.