A Journey Towards Happiness
The increasing self-awareness you gain from counselling will help you to make better choices and decisions about how to live your life. Your counsellor knows that drug or alcohol use, self harm, or depression are ways of coping, so he will not judge you by your actions. Instead he will try to understand things from your perspective whilst helping you to explore and make sense of your experience by:
- Asking questions
- Listening carefully to what you have to say
- Valuing you and your unique way of seeing life
- Helping you to accept both positive and challenging aspects of yourself.
Building a Relationship
Your Counselling Room
Confidentiality – Knowing that what is discussed in counselling will not be repeated to anyone by your counsellor is the cornerstone of a trusting counselling relationship. You can feel safe in the knowledge that he won’t disclose anything you tell him, except in a case where you intend to seriously harm yourself or others.
But even then your counsellor would discuss this carefully with you before involving anyone else. Your counsellor also has a supervisor with whom he discusses any difficult issues that arise. That person is also bound by confidentiality.
Boundaries – To maintain confidentiality and your feeling of safety your counsellor will not engage with you outside of the counselling room. So if you do meet him elsewhere do not expect anything other than a polite acknowledgement if you say hello.
Time-keeping – Counselling sessions last for 50 minutes and are at the same time each week. Your counsellor will make every effort to be on time for all sessions and will inform you well in advance if he is unable to do so. Likewise it is expected that you will be on time and if you are unable to make a session to give 24 hours notice.
Charles Donaldson Your Counsellor
Payment of fees – Fees per hour: Individuals £60, Couples £75 before concessions. Fees for every session must be paid in advance and are non-refundable if a session is missed without giving 24-hour notice. Concessions are available for students, the low-waged, and for 6 or more sessions booked in advance.
Contact – Your counsellor does not offer counselling over the phone or outside the agreed counselling hours. You can contact him to make or alter appointments between 9am and 8pm Monday to Friday by phone or email: 07 765 841 271 / info@chardoncounselling.com