Depression and Anxiety are an increasingly common reason for referrals into counselling. Talking therapies can be highly effective in helping with both the symptoms of these conditions and also for seeking out and dealing with the underlying causes. Other presenting issues under this heading are work-related stress, obsessive compulsive symptoms and panic attacks.

This is a wide area and can be obvious in terms of alcohol, gambling, spending or substance addiction and less obvious such as addiction to self-defeating or self-sabotaging behaviour. Both respond well to counselling once the decision has been made to change the behaviour.

Trauma can colour many areas of our life, some more obvious than others. We tend to think of Trauma as being caused by a specific event, which indeed can be the case in terms of Rape, Sexual Assault or an accident. But equally, Trauma can arise from a sustained period of exposure to a traumatising situation, such as in an abusive relationship, being bullied or battling an illness either for ourselves or with a loved one. Understanding how our brains and bodies react to and store trauma can be extremely helpful in overcoming its damaging legacy.

Another common reason for seeking counselling is the awareness that something is wrong in our relationships. The safety of the counselling setting to openly and honestly explore what is going on can provide much needed insight into what dynamics are at play

Feelings of low self-worth often draw people into counselling. The counselling process can help in the gentle exploration of where these often debilitating feelings come from and help reframe them into something more positive. In this way, we can begin to let go of the self-doubts which keep us stuck and start to move forward with our lives.

This is an area which is inevitably hard for us to cope with alone and often we need some space to process the feelings we are left with after experiencing a loss in our lives.