The Turner Centre
for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Colchester, Essex

Information

What is Counselling and Psychotherapy ?


For more details on our services and how we can help you, click here.


Counselling and psychotherapy are ways of understanding the human mind and its reactions to life events.

It is about providing a safe environment in which to explore and understand difficult feelings, confusion and anxiety. It may often be necessary to look beyond the presenting problems to underlying causes enabling the resolution of longstanding as well as immediate difficulties.

Experiencing the therapist as accepting and containing allows the individual to explore these often painful issues and to make positive changes.

Counselling can range from one session onwards and can be time limited ie a certain number of sessions can be agreed at the start and a certain issue can be the focus of the work. It can also be open ended which means it can go on without any set time limits but perhaps with reviews at certain points during the counselling. This will be discussed at the assessment session.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is time limited and can be from one session. The number of sessions required will be agreed at the assessment or possibly on the telephone when discussing your difficulties with our CBT therapist.

Psychotherapy tends to be longer term enabling a greater awareness of personality traits and patterns thus allowing the working through and resolution of deeper seated difficulties.


What Can Counselling and Psychotherapy Help With ?

Counselling and psychotherapy can help with a range of emotional issues including;


Relationship difficulties, either individually, as a couple or both.

If you are struggling with a relationship in whatever form, whether it be with a partner, parent, sibling etc therapy can help to explore and understand how dysfunctional patterns of relating are brought from the past into current relationships. By understanding these processes, how they originated and how they are maintained, change is possible.

A separation or divorce can be a traumatic and emotional experience. Sometimes confusing and overwhelming feelings need to be understood and worked through.



Sexual problems.

Seeing a psychosexual therapist can help in identifying underlying difficulties which are manifesting themselves in sexual dysfunction or lack of interest in sex either as a couple or individually.



Loss & Bereavement - however long ago.

If a loss has not been grieved appropriately feelings of anger and depression may manifest themselves in other areas, including physical symptoms, sometimes years later. This is not only about bereavements but can be any loss ie, divorce, separation, miscarriage, abortion, job loss, retirement, loss of health, loss of a relationship etc. Any unexpressed feelings associated with early losses need to be explored and understood to enable their working through and resolution - allowing effective coping and resolution of current and future losses.


Feelings of not coping.

Overwhelming feelings of not coping with a life event or with life generally can feel hopeless. By understanding the origins of these reactions and feelings and exploring what it all means to the individual, can enable a new perspective and a sense of empowerment, control and freedom leading to change.



Anxiety, fear and panic including panic attacks.

Anxiety, fear and panic can be debilitating affecting every area of life leaving the sufferer feeling powerless and out of control. By exploring the early origins of the fear, anxiety and panic, and understanding the processes involved in maintaining these feelings, the power motivating the feelings and the need to continue can be reduced.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is effective in relieving the effects of panic attacks, anxiety and fear, by changing the thought processess associated with the symptom.



Low self esteem, lack of confidence, feelings of inadequacy.

Feeling as though you are not good enough, or that you don't have the confidence to live life more fully doing the things you want to do, can feel restricting, frustrating and leave the sufferer feeling out of control and powerless. By exploring how you see yourself in relation to others and the world and understanding how and why you have found yourself in this repeating role, can feel enlightening and empowering. Working with someone who values and repects you can enable a new perspective and a new role in life.



Depression, low mood, intense sadness & grief including post-natal depression.

Depression can be understood as unexpressed anger. It can feel hopeless and desparate with all purpose in life gone. By exploring and understanding early experiences and relationships, previously unexpressed feelings can be expressed appropriately in the here and now and worked through enabling a greater sense of self awareness, purpose and fulfillment.

Post-natal depression following the birth of a baby can feel desparate and symptoms can include low mood and tearfulness, severe anxiety (sometimes around safety of baby and/or self, and fear of own health), paranoia, fear, panic. These feelings can emerge up to several months after the birth.


Health problems.

Loss of health or a diagnosis, however insignificant it may feel, needs to be worked through and its meaning to that individual understood enabling acceptance, as in all losses, otherwise unexpressed feelings can manifest themselves in other areas including anxiety, fear, panic and depression.



Eating disorders/problems with eating.

Problems with controlling food intake (anorexia), compulsive eating and bingeing and vomiting (bulimia) need to be understood in the context of the individual's early life experiences. Understanding the purpose these behaviours served early on and continue to serve enables the individual to express the underlying feelings and work through them.



Child and adolescent behaviour/emotional difficulties.

Behaviour problems in children are the symptom of underlying difficulties either as a reaction to a life event or ongoing family difficulties. A child psychotherapist is trained to access those feelings which cannot be expressed verbally, through play, drawing and games, bringing a sense of relief to the child thus reducing the need to 'act them out'.



Family difficulties.

All families experience difficulties from time to time. Sometimes it may be necessary to explore together with a family therapist the underlying difficulities causing an imbalance in the family dynamics and perhaps learn new ways of relating to each other.




About the therapists

We are a group of experienced and professional counsellors and psychotherapists offering a range of models for a wide range of issues and varying fees.

We see individuals, couples, families, children and adolescents and groups and many of our therapists offer low cost places for those on reduced incomes.

We are all qualified, independent practitioners and registered with at least one of the large national therapy organisations including the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the UK Register of Counsellors (UKRC), the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) and the British Association for Sexual and Relationship Therapy (BASRT).

Each therapist is bound by their professional body's Code of Ethics and subject to their Professional Conduct Procedure.

Each therapist receives regular clinical supervision as required by the BACP, UKRC, BABCP and BASRT.



The assessment session

Each prospective client will be offered an assessment session. This is a space for you to meet your therapist and discuss the issues troubling you. It can last between 50 minutes to an hour and a half and gives you the opportunity to see how therapy could work for you and allows your therapist to gain a picture of some of the issues. You can then think about whether you wish to continue.

If you decide to continue, each session following the assessment will last for 50 minutes and will usually be on the same day and time each week unless you need it to be flexible. With CBT your therapist will discuss with you the number of sessions required which can range from just one session.



Groups

We facilitate self awareness groups, anger management groups or individual anger managment sessions, anxiety groups and depression groups.



Please do feel free to contact us and discuss anything you would like to know more about.


Tel 01206 544458




Colchester Counselling & Psychotherapy in the centre of Colchester