Helen Tattersall

I have over 20 years experience working as a counsellor, including 13 years working in a counselling service in the NHS, and believe in working in an holistic way, counselling people rather than problems. I believe positive change and growth comes when you are given the opportunity to engage in a process that helps you develop new awareness and value for yourself. I find that this helps you develop the emotional resources you need to reduce your emotional distress, and the symptoms that have prompted you to seek counselling.

I am trained in the person-centred approach and my counselling is influenced by humanistic values in therapy, which means the focus is very much about trusting in your own emotional resources, helping you to develop them and gain the awareness you need to make changes in your life to feel more positive and happier with your life and relationships.  The focus of the therapy is engaging on an emotional level, processing blocked emotions and becoming more open emotionally, to yourself and others.  It is also about improving communication, whether this is with your own emotions or with others.  It is a collaborative process in which you take the lead.

The first session is very much about getting a sense of each other, developing a rapport and identifying what has brought you to counselling at this time and what you hope to gain from the counselling.  No first session is the same, as everyone comes with different needs.  Every counselling process is unique.  By the end of the first session you will hopefully have a sense that you have been listened to and understood.  You will hopefully feel you can gain benefit from continuing with a counselling process.  It will be your choice and your decision to continue with the counselling.