Trauma is where individuals have experienced a distressing incident and can include; experiencing or witnessed an incident or series of incidents which have involved threatened death or serious injury. Feelings of trauma can be fear, helplessness, or horror. Some of the symptoms experienced may include hypervigilance, flashbacks, night terrors, dissociation, bed wetting amongst others. Examples of trauma can include but are not limited to; fleeing civil war, combat, torture, domestic and sexual violence, childhood sexual and physical abuse, sexual exploitation and witnessing the abuse of others. In counselling it is important to be able to explore trauma at your own pace, when you are ready. Prior to going into any trauma work I will help you to develop self-help techniques, including grounding which you can draw on as needed.
Developing a sense of ourselves is essential. Identity can be determined by a number of things such as gender, religion or ethnicity. Struggling with various parts of our identity is natural. By not having a strong sense of who you are can lead to feelings of anxiety and insecurity. Here I will offer you a space to discuss feelings related to your identity to help you to find ways of coping with these struggles to help you, find you.
Most people can suffer from low mood at some point in their lives. Depression is often a persistent feeling that doesn't go away and may take the form of symptoms such as; sadness, difficulty with concentration, unhappiness, irritability, loss of interest in fun activities or life, isolation, heaviness and lack of motivation, Here we can look to help you reconnect with life by looking at what is behind these thoughts and feelings.
Bereavement can be experienced due to the loss of a loved one such as a child, partner, family member or beloved pet. It may be sudden or unexpected or due to a terminal illness. We can all experience loss which may be down to losing a job, a person moving away or loss of a part of you that you feel has been taken away or changed. Together we can explore how you have been affected and look at your needs.
Stress can be debilitating and leave you feeling, highly anxious, angry and exhausted. Here we can look at how you have been affected and explore what is happening in your life and look at what you might be able to change to move forward.
Difficulties in relationships with family members or friends may leave you feeling angry, lost, abandoned, isolated, sad or hurt. We can look at what may have occurred in the past as well as how these feelings are being triggered now, exploring patterns of behaviour within families and how these can be carried down through the generations.
Anger is a natural and important emotion to have as it can help to protect and keep ourselves safe. Some anger however can lead to rage which may become uncontrollable or destructive. Together we can explore what is behind this and give you tools to manage.
WORK RELATED ISSUES
Feelings of not being good enough, or worthlessness can be distressing and are often accompanied by an internal critical voice. These feelings can leave you feeling on edge, hopeless, frightened or panicky. Together we can look at what has made your feel unsafe and explore these difficulties using techniques alongside relaxation and mindfulness to help you feel more grounded and able to manage situations.
We spend a lot of our time at work and difficulties may arise in relationships with colleagues or managers. It may be about missing out on a promotion or wanting to improve the way we work. Whatever the challenge, we can look at how you can understand more around the dynamics of relationships and how to build on your confidence to achieve what you want to within your work.