Counselling, or psychotherapy, as it is sometimes referred to, is a therapy that involves talking with a Counsellor, Psychotherapist or Psychologist who then use proven therapeutic tools to support the client/s through a difficult time or to make some changes to the way they are living their lives. Counselling involves the therapist examining the way the client is thinking, behaving or relating in their environment and working with the client to develop a way that will work better for them.
Counselling is not ‘giving advice’ and involves much more than listening. It is an interactive process where the therapist enables the client’s self awareness to grow, challenges non-useful patterns of behaviour and helps to develop strategies that might be more effective for the client.  It requires commitment from the client to actively be involved on the process of making changes, learning acceptance or developing any number of skills to help them to cope with the current problem or situation.
There are times in most people lives where a situation or specific problem can seem impossible to resolve and it can have many negative impacts on our personal life, our relationships and/or our work life. This can and does happen to people from all walks of life – professionals, sportspeople, famous and not so famous, the young and old, men and women.  A Counsellor or Psychologist is trained to support clients and, if required, assist them to make positive changes towards a more satisfying way of life.
As the benefits of therapy are being better understood people are becoming more inclined to invest in their mental and psychological wellbeing.
The stigma that once surrounded counselling has been rapidly fading due to the growing awareness of how counselling can help in so many situations and through educating people to know that counselling can be useful for everyday people. People are now recognizing the many benefits of counselling and that it is ok to ask for help - no matter your age, sex or personal situation. It is for people just like you and me.
Counselling has been proven to be very effective in helping people to work through both specific problems, for example, a relationship break-up, and longer term issues like self-esteem or grief and loss issues. Generally speaking, counselling tends to be a shorter term proposition, with many clients reporting feeling an improvement and more in control of their future after just a few sessions. Working with deeper psychological disorders may require more in-depth treatment over a longer term.