In this chaotic and fast-moving world, we are all on the same boat. Someday, we feel the best, and then there are days when we need someone to tell us that everything is going to be fine. We all need help and support at some points in our lives. That support can come from a family member, a friend, or an acquaintance. But, sometimes, you need unbiased and non-judgemental support because you are sensitive to the issues you are having. In that case, professional counselling is the best approach.

What is Counselling?

Counselling is a form of talk therapy. It is the therapy in which a trained professional listens to you and helps you find healthy ways to deal with your issues. But it is important to notice that counselling should never include criticising, giving advice, and being judgemental. Following are the things that are included in counselling:

• It is the process that occurs when the therapist and the client sit together to explore the emotional difficulties the client is facing.
• It is an act of helping the client sorting out things more clearly, becoming aware of the present situation, and looking at the situations from a different point of view. This helps the client to focus on the experiences, feelings, behaviours, with the main goal of inducing positive feelings.
• It is a relationship of trust. One of the most significant parameters of counselling is confidentiality and this is where the relationship of trust is built. They are only allowed to disclose your information if there is any risk to your life.

How to find a Counsellor

If you are looking to find the perfect Counsellor it is crucial to make sure that they have the appropriate qualifications, knowledge and experience. At Expat Therapy 4U we only accept therapists who have full professional proficiency in English and are highly experienced in working with people from culturally diverse backgrounds. The clinicians we approve share our values and commitment to provide high quality therapy to the expatriate community in the private sector across Europe and online worldwide. We strongly believe that therapy changes lives, and being accredited ensures all our therapists are qualified to a high standard. You can find a Counsellor who is insured to practice and accredited with a recognised membership body online here.

What type of problems can Counselling help?

Since counselling has a broader exposure, it can address a lot of issues related to the mental health of an individual. These issues can come from environmental, developmental, and cultural perspectives. Day to day issues that are affecting the normal life routine of a person can also be addressed through counselling. These issues include, but are not limited to:

• Making necessary decisions about work and career.
• Dealing with learning and skill deficiencies.
• Relationships difficulties
• Family issues
• Couple issue
• School and career adjustment concerns
• Dealing with physical illness
• Organisational issues
• Personal adjustment issues
• Developing one’s identity
• Mental disorders
• Sleep issues
• Eating issues

There are various other issues including these that can be dealt with with the help of counselling. Counselling is a relief therapy for any sort of issue that is affecting your everyday life.

How does Counselling work?

A counsellor is a trained professional and is there to listen to you sympathetically. They listen to you and suggest the ways to sort out your issue by changing your thought patterns and behaviours. The counsellor can help with you gaining a better understanding of your actions and feelings as well as making you able to sort out your solutions.

The counsellor will encourage you to identify your issues and take responsibility for them. It works best when you trust the counsellor. It might take a little time but when you become comfortable, you feel really good by sharing your feelings with the person who is not judging you and criticising you.

What is the role of the Counsellor?

The role of the counsellor is to treat every client keeping the individual differences in mind. No two people are the same, and so the counsellor needs to understand the personality he/she is dealing with before doing any intervention. Once it is clear what type of person the client is, the next step is to develop an insight where the client becomes aware of the situation that is bothering him/her.

The counsellor is meant to develop a good rapport with the client to let him talk openly about the feelings. The counsellor must earn the trust of the client to let him talk freely about anything that is bothering him. He allows the client to express any emotion he wants such as anger, resentment, fear, and guilt.

In addition, a counsellor encourages clients to examine the parts of life that they had difficulty in understanding before. This can include exploration of childhood memories and the events that are still in the unconscious part of the brain.

A good counsellor reduces the confusion faced by the client and allows them to make effective decisions about changing their behaviours. The ultimate role of the counsellor is to help the client make their own choices and reach their own decisions for good.

What is the difference between Counselling and Psychotherapy?

Both these terms might seem very similar but they are not the same. However, both counselling and psychotherapy aim at providing help to the clients so that they can work out a solution for their issues. Most of us don’t seem to find any differences among both, but here are some of the basic differences:

In counselling, the therapist focuses on the present issues and how they are affecting the life of their clients. they don’t need to dig deep into childhood memories or past events to sort out the present issues. It is all about helping people to handle their issues on the spot with a few strategies. CBT and person-centered therapy are the most commonly used techniques in counselling.

A psychotherapist, on the other hand, takes a deeper approach towards counselling. They are more concerned about childhood and past experiences. They tend to extract out the cause of certain behaviours by digging out the buried experiences in the conscious mind of the client. It is a time taking therapy and it is often used for complex issues.

Find a Counsellor through the Expat Therapy 4U platform

At your appointment, you will be encouraged to talk about how you feel with a trained therapist who will listen and support you. They are not meant to give you advice or criticise you but instead, they can only help you regain your sense of responsibility. It can take place:

• Face-to-face
• Online
• Over the phone

You might be there for a single session, or a series of sessions for over a week or month depending on your requirement. You will start to feel better just after a few sessions.

Further Readings on Counselling

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/counselling/

https://theinternationalpsychologyclinic.com/services/counsellor-in-london/