Tools, Techniques & Resources
Getting the best possible help for your situation
Depending on your situation, you may need different types of help. My counselling process adapts to your needs and you are invited to be a co-creator of the process. Your communication about what you want and need is therefore vital for a successful outcome.
This page is here to explain some of the tools and techniques I use and provide some information and links to external resources.
Distress Tolerance
Basic Principles of Accepting Reality
Distress Tolerance skills are used to help us cope and survive during a crisis, and helps us tolerate short term or long term pain (physical or emotional). Tolerating distress includes a mindfulness of breath and mindful awareness of situations and ourselves. These four basic principles are useful to know when times are tough.
Life can be tough
The sooner you can understand that life is not always fair or easy, the better you’ll be able to accept things are out of your control.
Some things cannot be changed
Try to agree or at least admit that there are some things we cannot change. This will help you focus on things that can change.
It is what it is…
The idea that you can accept certain unchangeable things and balance those things with what you can change will help you get through the moment.
You may not always like it
We all like to have things work out the way we want them to; that is human nature. Accept this is not always possible. Agree to disagree.
Counselling Methods
The types of counselling that I use are Integrative, Person Centred, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Transpersonal and Solution Focused. While these may sound complicated or scary when you understand what they mean it can help alleviate any prior fears.
You may have also heard of the term ‘Psychotherapy’. This is simply a term used to describe a type of therapy used to treat emotional problems and mental health conditions. It involves talking to a trained therapist, either one-to-one, in a group or with your wife, husband or partner.
Integrative
Integrative therapy, or integrative counselling is a combined approach to psychotherapy that brings together different elements of specific therapies. Integrative therapists take the view that there is no single approach that can treat each client in all situations.
Person Centred
Person centred therapy, also known as person-centred counselling or client-centred counselling is a humanistic approach that deals with the ways in which individuals perceive themselves consciously rather than how a counsellor can interpret their unconscious thoughts or ideas.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It’s most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can be useful for other mental and physical health problems.
Transpersonal
Transpersonal therapy is a type of therapy that doesn’t focus on a person’s body and mind, but on the health of a person’s spirit. This type of therapy puts an emphasis on a person’s spiritual path or spiritual enlightenment during their life.
Solution Focused
Solution-focused brief therapy is an approach to psychotherapy based on solution-building rather than problem-solving. It explores current resources and future hopes rather than present problems and past causes and typically involves only three to five sessions.
External Resources
There are many fantastic external resources that also offer help & support
