BARNET COUNSELLING ASSOCIATION
The Association of Primary Care Counsellors in Barnet

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What is counselling?

Counselling is a one to one relationship with someone who is trained to listen attentively and help you find your own answers without judging you.

You may first be offered one or two appointments when you and the counsellor will start to get to know each other and decide if you can work together. You will then be offered a number of counselling sessions.

Counselling is more likely to work if you feel comfortable and at ease with your counsellor. Finding the right person for you is very important though on the NHS you may not have a choice within your surgery. Counselling does not make your problems go away but after some time you may feel more able to cope and deal with them in a more constructive manner.

Sometimes people feel better for just having been able to talk to someone and say things they couldn't say to friends and family about how they feel. Feeling safe, listened to and understood can make a difference to how you feel. Knowing that whatever you say will not go any further and feeling accepted and believed by another person can be an enormous relief.

Counselling is most likely to help if you want to explore your feelings and change your approaches to problems and adjust your own behaviour. Some counsellors will aim to find the root cause of your problem and help you deal with it in a more constructive manner. Some counsellors will help you deal with negative thoughts, while others simply aim to support you through a difficult time in your life.

There are no magic solutions, it can be hard work and progress can be slow and painful at times. But many people have found counselling has helped them to get on with their lives after feeling they couldn’t cope.