My wish is to reassure you that these feelings are normal. In bravely seeking support to work with what may be troubling you, you may well be anticipating that this process will, to some degree, ask of you to approach your vulnerabilities and it can be difficult to know what to expect from this process.
Below, I have provided the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions that I have received during my time in practice, which I hope will help to reduce any sense of anxiety or uncertainty.
This is an interesting question, that is asked regularly. I would argue 'what is normal?' Do we set our own parameters for how we should be to be normal, maybe we don't think we match up to our own ideas of what normal is?
Everyone is individual and that is ok. Whatever difficulty you bring to this journey, I can assure you that it is possible to make positive change.
With family and friends, relationships are known as sympathetic. This means that they may base their own ideas of what is best for you on their own thoughts or experiences. It may feel difficult for them not to pass judgement or for you to feel that your own thoughts and opinions are truly heard.
The relationship that you will have with a therapist is non biased, and is known as empathetic. Listening with empathy means that it would be the therapist’s role to sit behind your eyes and to find an ability to connect to a feeling inside them that may match yours, enabling the therapist to work out how you experience the world, gaining an ability to see and hear you and your perspectives. This approach is always accepting of you as a person and has no judgement. It is the therapists wish to create a safe space that will support you freely to express your thoughts and opinions while facilitating your own ability to listen to your internal voice and make sense of things for yourself.
The session is about you and can help you to explore and navigate difficult emotions and find a way forward.
Your wellbeing and emotional safety are a priority, and a registered therapist is professionally trained and has achieved the appropriate qualifications to support individual clients while they experience difficult emotions.
Private therapy may seem expensive, but is it really? Why do we invest less in our emotional health when without it we may have no quality of life or function?
Interestingly, the average person may not even consider looking after their emotional health until such a time that it is encroaching severely on their quality of life. It may well be at that point that cost does not seem important, but the benefits to life quality and emotional health after engaging in therapy can be significant.
The cost of psychotherapy in any form often reflects many years of committing to continuous study and training for the therapist. There are costs to maintaining a private practice which may remain unseen to the client. Costs will include:
- A commitment to continuous training/research
- Professional membership fee’s
- Insurance
- Data protection registrations
- Advertising
- Monthly or Bi-Weekly supervision
- Internet and telephone subscriptions
This is to name but some, and is a requirement to building and maintaining a safe and ethical practice. Therapists are obliged to meet certain continuous costs ethically to protect as much as they are able, the client’s wellbeing.
Therapists have additional responsibility to protect their own wellbeing with monthly clinical supervision, they may well be supporting a number of clients whom are experiencing difficult emotions whilst juggling their own lives and life stresses. Periodically therapists themselves engage in private therapy, this is common good practice for therapists in their quest to always ensure that they are able to manage their own emotions and triggers, and that the therapeutic space remains a space for the client’s difficulty only.
Historically within the UK there seems to be general opinion historically that therapy should be very low cost or even free of charge, and this has certainly been demonstrated within charitable services, but the costs of delivering therapy are found to be significant, and for private therapists these obligations must be taken on together with the costs of living.
Within the UK therapy is moving away from free provision as it is no longer sustainable, even charities are finding lower funding opportunities and are now expected to work as an internal business without profit. This means that they are too, beginning to introduce fees or minimum donations.
The initial assessment is important as it’s an initial meeting between us, an opportunity for you to meet me and to decide if I am the right therapist for you to work with. It is an opportunity for me to explore your reasons for attending therapy, so that I can understand how best I may be able to support you, and to ethically check my level of competency to work with what you may bring.
It is within this meeting that we will decide if our work will continue.
Psychotherapy has strict confidentiality restrictions. I work as a registered member of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society and I follow their ethical framework/guidelines for best working practice.
As a practicing Psychotherapist, there are certain obligations that I have to follow to best protect the wellbeing of the clients that I work with, and it is only at these times that I may have a duty of care to break confidentiality.
I would discuss this with you in more detail at the initial assessment.
Regarding your personal information, please read my privacy policy for further information on how I keep your details safe.
One of the major benefits of private therapy is that although therapist availability can vary and will need to be matched with your availability, there is often either no waiting list or a small waiting list to see your chosen therapist.
This means that usually, you are able to be seen for an initial assessment quite quickly and then commence your therapy soon after.
EMDR Specific Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the most frequently asked questions, but for further information about this very specific type of therapy please click here [link to follow – EMDR page coming soon].
EMDR stands for, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing.
This form of therapy is designed to help individuals process and overcome traumatic or negative experiences and emotions originate in the past, but that may be consciously or unconsciously impacting present levels of wellbeing or ability to function effectively.
EMDR is a powerful form of psychotherapy, that can accelerate the healing process by working with elements of the unconscious self that may be difficult for you access within talking therapy.
Within research and trials, EMDR has been shown to be highly effective. As a therapy it is recommended by NICE (National institute for health and care excellence) as a treatment for post traumatic stress, and can also be used to treat fears and phobia’s, OCD and pain.
Therapists that are able to practice with EMDR, must meet pre-set levels of knowledge and practice. This means that they have to possess specific accreditations, have achieved expected levels of competency and are able to demonstrate a high level of clinical experience with a specific minimum number of facilitated clinical practice hours. Therapists that have not achieved this minimum standard are not permitted to engage in EMDR training, or to practice in EMDR.
It is important that you work with a therapist who can demonstrate that they have met these standards.
It is difficult to suggest exactly how many sessions may be required for each individual. This is because people process their trauma, work through their difficulties and develop emotionally at their own pace, and their life experiences vary in both complexity and intensity.
For these reasons, the number of sessions that may be needed can vary, and is really dependent on the individual themselves and the aspects of their experiences that they wish to work with at this time.
What is important, is that you feel in a place where you can commit to the process of therapy and be consistent in attending your sessions, even when this may feel difficult. There is limited therapeutic benefit to any client, who is intermittent in attending their sessions, and in this case, it may be more beneficial to attend at a time where you feel that you are able to maintain consistency.
On average, most individuals will require 8-12 sessions of EMDR OR EFT to feel a significant improvement in their symptoms, depending on the complexity and severity of theses however, there is of course, the possibility that fewer sessions may well be required.
My usual approach is to start with an agreement of 8-12 sessions, but to review the need for these together during the course of our work.
I will always be guided by the needs of the client that I am working with. It would not be ethical for me to continue to suggest sessions for any client who does not need to continue in therapy.
To submit your secure referral please click here.
