Often people find solace in talking to friends or family, but for many people this can actually be a barrier to openly and honestly discussing your issues – many people feel more comfortable talking to a trained professional who is essentially a stranger and who can therefore listen to you without judgement. They’re also experienced in dealing with and talking about almost any subject or taboo under the sun, so there’s nothing you need to feel too embarrassed or ashamed to talk about.
Our counselling approach to anxiety:
- Information and understanding about anxiety and the physical causes and symptoms of anxiety.
- Relaxation and breathing control help to reduce the level of anxiety. Regularly practiced relaxation also repairs some of the stress to the body caused by chronic anxiety and improves sleep. Slowing the breathing reduces symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks.
- Cognitive behaviour therapy aims to assist you to understand the role that your thoughts play in increasing your level of anxiety. We recognise that it is easier said than done! It can take a lot of practice before entrenched thinking patterns start to change – but they will eventually. CBT helps you to make a connection between your thoughts and the feelings of anxiety. Learning to identify and counter negative or anxious thoughts improves mood and lifts anxiety.
- Structured problem solving techniques can also help many people with anxiety disorders when anxiety freezes your ability to make a decision.
- Mindfulness meditation is optional but can be very useful in helping you to understand the way the mind works and to assist in working with anxious thoughts. Regularly practiced meditation also calms the mind and body.
Share the Burden of Your Emotions
Counselling is private and confidential and having that one person that you confide in, who listens to you, relieves you of always shouldering the burden of your emotions. It’s quite common for emotions that are bottled up to have lasting effects on your mood and behaviour, and long-seated issues can be the root cause of all kinds of worries.
See Your Thoughts from a Different Perspective
Speaking aloud and verbalising your thoughts and emotions lets you see them from a new perspective, instead of just in the interior of your own mind. Saying them to another person also makes you consider what their view is, meaning you can gain new ways of thinking about your problems, simply by letting them out. In a similar way, keeping a diary or journal is a great help to many people – seeing your problems written down on paper allows you to examine them from a distance. In some cases, people discover that their worries or anxieties aren’t really founded on any real cause for concern or that what they thought was a very serious issue was in fact nothing at all to worry about – this can be a huge relief.
Greater Degree of Self-Awareness
Gain a greater degree of self-awareness by examining your emotions with the counsellor, which allows you to see yourself from the outside, resulting in a heightened sense of self-awareness. And once processed, this can have huge benefits by helping women to feel more at peace with themselves, and more confident in the rest of their lives.