Gentle Mind – Counselling & Psychotherapy
Certain life challenges and difficulties may overwhelm us or become temporarily unmanageable. Sometimes help from friends and family provides enough comfort, other times we may benefit from more objective, professional help.
Everyone can benefit from support during challenging moments in life, it does not mean that we are emotionally weak or unstable. People enter counselling for various reasons, to regain psychological wellness, to address unresolved feelings, for personal development, to improve relationships, or to make sense of any emotions they may be experiencing.
Counselling provides an emotionally safe space to explore many aspects of our life, it can also be an opportunity, to express difficult feelings such as anger, resentment, guilt and fear by talking openly and freely in a supportive, non-judgemental environment. It helps to create our awareness in our values, find our strengths, better understand ourselves, and develop fresh perspectives on problematic issues in life.
It takes courage to seek counselling but we believe that receiving genuine empathy, respect, understanding and acceptance during therapy, can help to alleviate symptoms of emotional or psychological distress. We treasure the trust placed on us, and are committed to ensuring the safety and privacy of our clients.
EVERY STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION IS THE START OF SOMETHING PROMISING
Our Services
We provide psychotherapy and counselling to adolescents and adults for a variety of issues and concerns.
FEARS & PHOBIAS
ANGER MANAGEMENT
SOCIAL ANXIETY
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
LIFE TRANSITIONS
ANXIETY
SELF-ESTEEM
Our Philosophy
As every client is a unique individual, counselling is by nature a deeply personal experience. We believe in providing an individualised treatment plan using an integrative holistic approach, to help our clients generate more meaning and satisfaction in life, and to enhance their wellbeing.
We are dedicated to providing the highest, ethically responsible standards of counselling & psychotherapy services and respecting our clients’ values, personal resources and capacity for choice within their cultural context.
Understanding that the decision to start therapy can be difficult and daunting ,we expect that you may have several questions about the process of counselling. Hence, we welcome any questions you may have as well as a request for a brief 20 minutes no fee consultation.
FAQs
Counselling is a very broad term used in conjunction with many types of advice giving. In the context of therapy however, counsellors rarely offer advice, it is the active process of assisting and guiding clients, by a trained professional to understand and resolve personal, social, or psychological problems and difficulties. Counselling is generally used to denote a relatively brief treatment focusing on specific problems.
Psychotherapy, also called “talk therapy” is usually a longer-term treatment aiming at gaining insight into mental or emotional health, the resolution ofinner conflicts, and an enhancement of your relationship with yourself and others.
The therapeutic relationship between a therapist/counsellor and a client is strictly professional and the therapeutic relationship differs from all other relationships. You can tell therapists things without having to worry about your information being told to others or in any way affecting your job, family or relationships. You can be honest with therapists without having to worry about offending friends or family. When a therapist asks how you are doing, he or she really wants to know.
The initial session is used to gather information and detail about what brings a client to therapy. The counsellor then discusses with the client the various approaches which may be appropriate. This is also a good opportunity to raise any questions and concerns about the counsellor or process of therapy itself.
Depending on the issue, short-term therapy such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help a great deal in a few sessions in the event of an immediate crisis. Longer term therapy on an open-ended basis may be needed for more deeply entrenched issues. It is worth noting that it may take a few sessions to build up the rapport and trust necessary for therapy to work.
An individual session typically lasts between 50 to 60 minutes.
Articles
Theoretical Approaches
In counselling and psychotherapy, there are many styles, methods and approaches.
