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Below I will describe briefly what it is that I do and offer,
and I will also answer some specific questions that you may have
regarding my work or counselling and psychotherapy in general.
If you would like to ask me more information please feel free to contact
me either by e-mail or phone:
damian@lifeworthliving.eu 079 6325 8335
What kind of counselling and psychotherapy do you offer?
I have been trained in two different therapeutic approaches -
existential and person-centred - which are both based on the
idea that there are no ready made answers to questions like
"How should I live my life?" or "How could I find more satisfaction and happiness in my life?".
Although as human beings we are all in many ways similar to each other, we are
also all different and unique, and therefore the answers or choices that best suit
one person may not be very useful to someone else.
Daunting as it may initially seem, but to find more satisfaction and fulfilment
in your life you have to find at least some of your very own answers, because only the
choices made according to your unique needs and your unique personality usually
turn out to be fulfilling in the longer perspective.
And this is where exploratory therapy which I offer can be very useful -
I will help you to find out and become more aware of how you create and live your
life, what actually matters to you there, and what needs changing.
Of course talking to another person about your difficulties and struggles can in
itself be very supporting and healing, and it can bring you relief even after
a couple of sessions. I will create a space for you in the sessions where
you can talk as freely and safely as possible, and where my aim is to understand and
support you, not to judge or criticise. Sometimes I may also gently challenge what
you say, or offer different possible interpretations, but these are always meant as
suggestions for you to consider and not as truths which you must accept.
The best way to summarise what I think and believe psychotherapy is would be to say that
psychotherapy or counselling are similar to a journey to an unknown land.
The journey may be short or long, relatively easy or unexpectedly difficult, but you don't
know what to expect and what will await you in this unknown land. No-one knows.
Only one thing is sure - this journey will change you, and you will learn and grow and find
more connection with yourself, with other people and with life.
And this journey has already begun … otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.
What will happen in the sessions?
In the sessions we usually talk about anything that you consider important to talk about. I will
occasionally use questions, comments and reflections in order to help you to get a clearer picture
and better understanding of your experiences, thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I will also draw
your attention to what happens between us in the therapy room – the relationship between us often
mirrors in important ways your interactions and relationships in the ‘outside’ world.
Is it confidential?
Everything we talk about in the sessions is confidential - I will not give your name or any information
about you to anyone else. In very exceptional circumstances I may have to break my promise of
confidentiality, but this will happen only if I believe that someone's personal safety is at great
risk and breaking the confidentiality will help to prevent serious harm.
Should such a situation arise
I will make every effort to discuss the situation with you first.
How long will it go on for?
The counselling I practice is open-ended, the length of the counselling depends on which kind of problems and
issues you want to address and explore. Sometimes even 2-3 sessions can be very helpful, sometimes the work
continues over many years. Decisions about the length of
counselling are usually made jointly by the client
and the counsellor, and can be revised at any time.
When will I feel better?
It depends again on the severity and the nature of your problems and issues.
One of the main aims of counselling is to give you more choice and more clarity
in your life, and this doesn’t usually happen overnight. Sometimes talking to the
counsellor about one’s difficulties can bring immediate relief, but there can
also be periods during the counselling when many unpleasant experiences or
feelings, like sadness, anger, vulnerability or confusion, surface. At those
difficult times we will usually focus on helping you to cope with those
experiences and to use them for your personal growth.
Which problems are appropriate for counselling?
Anything that concerns you or anything that you would like to understand better. For example:
Anxiety
Career choices
Confusion or uncertainty
Depression
Identity issues
Loss and trauma
Meaning of life
Relationships
Sex and sexuality
Spirituality
Stress
There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ issues to talk about in counselling.
Sometimes you may have a very specific problem which would be better addressed by a specialist in
that particular area – we can discuss this in the first session and try to find a best solution for you.
How often are sessions?
Usually we meet for 50 minutes once a week,
alternative
arrangements are also possible.
What is the difference between counselling and psychotherapy?
There is no significant difference between counselling and psychotherapy – some people call what
they do counselling and other people call the same thing psychotherapy. Neither of them is a
medical treatment and neither of them is usually practiced by medical practitioners. The main
difference between counselling and psychotherapy here in UK is that psychotherapists have sometimes
had longer training than counsellors.
There are also some historical reasons why there are
two different terms - until 1950s the term 'psychotherapy' meant only psychoanalytic therapy
practiced by the people with medical training and degrees, and when the new approaches to psychotherapy
started to emerge (and didn't require their practicioners to be
medical doctors) some of them
preferred to use the old term 'psychotherapy' while some of them decided to use a new term 'counselling'.
What if I don’t like counselling or my counsellor?
After you have contacted me we will arrange for the first meeting which we can both use for deciding whether we want to work together.
If there is anything you are not sure about or feel not comfortable with you can address these issues with me in this first session.
As the effectiveness of the counselling depends very much on the quality of the relationship between the client and the
counsellor it is sometimes a good idea to meet with two or three different counsellors before choosing the one who seems to best
suit with your needs and personality.
If during the further sessions you feel not quite satisfied with the counselling or me as a counsellor I encourage you to bring your concerns up in the session so that we can try to find the best possible solution for you.
As a member of BACP I have to abide by our organisation's ethical and professional guidelines – if you think that some of my actions have been profoundly unprofessional or unethical you can make a complaint directly to BACP. Some questions and answers to explain this procedure can be found here: http://www.bacp.co.uk/prof_conduct/faq.php
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"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."
Jack Kornfield
"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"If we really face our sadness we find it speaks with the voice of our
deepest longing; and if we face it a little longer we find that it
teaches us the way to attain what we long for."
Peter Kingsley
"This very moment is the
perfect teacher."
Pema Chödrön
"Every man is not only himself; he is also the unique,
particular, always significant and remarkable point where
the phenomena of the world intersect once and for all and
never again. That is why every man's story is important,
eternal, sacred; and why every man while he lives and fulfils
the will of nature is a wonderful creature, deserving the
utmost attention."
Herman Hesse
"Our fears are like dragons guarding our most precious treasures."
Rainer Maria Rilke
"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is
your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame.
The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible
for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins."
Bob Moawad
"He who has a 'why' to live can bear almost any 'how'."
Friedrich Nietzsche
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