Pete | Psychotherapeutic counsellor

Psychotherapeutic Counselling Oxford

Whatever challenges you're currently facing, counselling can provide a much needed place to figure things out and to help find your way through. 

Different things bring us into counselling or therapy for the first time. For many, it is because our usual ways of navigating and dealing with the challenges in our lives no longer seem to be doing the trick. This might manifest as feeling anxious or depressed, struggling to disconnect, lacking joy, having trouble with sleep, or finding that your mind keeps running away with itself and that you don't seem able to get it to stop.

Sometimes we have an idea why this is happening -- for example, we find ourselves in newly stressful circumstances or we've undergone traumatic experience(s) -- and at other times the cause is more of a mystery even to ourselves. We might somehow just not feel like our 'old self' and, try as we might, we can't quite make our way back to how we once were. 

In such situations, talking through what is happening in your life with someone who is trained to listen (and who is not directly involved in the events you describe) can be a huge help. Very possibly it’s your first step towards improving your understanding of what you're experiencing, of dealing with your past and of finding new ways to navigate your challenges in the present.

What are the sessions with me like?

The counselling process is as individual as are all of us, so when we begin our work together we will spend a little time together figuring out what would be most useful for you. Depending on what has brought you into therapy, we might focus mainly on your present circumstances or we may give greater attention to how your history and life experiences have shaped the person who you have become today. For most of us, it will be some combination of the two that works best. 

My aim is that you'll feel that you're sharing the counselling room with a fellow human being, rather than with an impassive mental health professional. With that in mind, there may be times when we laugh together. When helpful, I may also share my emotional responses to the material we discuss. As the work progresses, and if you're interested in doing so, we could also come to examine the dynamics between the two of us in the room as a 'live' means of accessing aspects of how you experience the wider world.

As we explore the varied thoughts, feelings and sensations which make your experience of the world, you are likely to gain new insights and develop new perspectives on parts of your life, experiences and relationships. We are all of us complex beings and one aspect of the work will be bringing this complexity, in all its glory, to the counselling room. At times, this will mean exploring those aspects of ourselves and our experiences that currently feel troublesome, painful, or even destabilising. At others, it'll mean celebrating your successes, strengths and joys (when they come).

Please message me and we can discuss what might be most helpful in your specific circumstances.