Top Counselling Approaches

You feel like you are ready to take the leap and begin some counselling. But, where to begin?

It can be a little like speed dating for professionals; you need to find someone who is right for you, who you click with. This can be personality based, and hard to know until you meet them. A good place to begin, is to know what approach they take in their work. Are they solutions focused, give you the space you need or are they the one that can challenge you when you shy away from vulnerable topics...?

Counselling is a diverse field with various approaches tailored to meet the unique needs of individuals. Knowing what approaches there are can help you find the right fit. 

Here are some of the prominent counselling methods:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT focuses on changing the way you think and behave. It emphasizes the present, providing practical solutions to alleviate current symptoms. By identifying and challenging negative thinking, CBT helps you approach situations more positively.

Integrative Counselling

This approach considers the individual, their presenting issues, and specific needs. Integrative counselling uses techniques and tools from various modalities to create a tailored approach that works best for the person in front of the counsellor.

Person Centred Therapy

Person Centred Therapy operates on the belief that everyone has the capacity for change and self-growth when given the right opportunity. It assumes the client is the expert on their own experiences. The counsellor provides unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence to facilitate this growth.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis delves into the unconscious mind, suggesting that psychological issues stem from repressed feelings and conflicts. Past experiences heavily influence thoughts, emotions, and behaviour. Techniques such as free association and dream analysis are used to bring these repressed elements to awareness.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Similar to psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy emphasizes the importance of the unconscious and past experiences on current behaviour. By exploring past conflicts and traumas, it helps identify relational patterns. Tools like free association, interpretation, and transference are utilized, but the process is less intensive than traditional psychoanalysis.

Transactional Analysis

This approach examines the three states of being: parent, adult, and child. It focuses on how you interpret the world and interact with others, identifying behavioural patterns. Transactional Analysis aims to improve interpersonal relationships by understanding these states.

Which one sounds good for you?

I trained specifically to practice integrative counselling, as I recognise that each of these counselling approaches offer unique benefits. Adapting to the individual in front of me, I can tailor my approach to their needs, offering them a bespoke type of counselling that is designed to provide the best opportunity to thrive.

Learn more about my approach to counselling here.