Person-centred & existential counselling with Susan Board at Brighton & Hove Therapies

PERSON-CENTRED & EXISTENTIAL COUNSELLING with Susan Board.

Counselling - Person-centred and Existential - works from the premise that you, the client, ultimately know what is best, and that you do possess the resources to access the most positive and constructive path through your life.  However, there may be times when you falter; when life circumstances become so challenging that you feel overwhelmed and powerless.  At such times, reaching out for a guide is helpful:  someone who will not take over but who will empathically listen as you seek your way.  In searching for this path, you will feel supported and will hopefully feel increasingly free to explore options may be not considered before or perhaps considered only a dream.  In doing so and with the increasing confidence that comes with this, one's sense of self and life possibilities expand.  Thus your self-respect is re-affirmed and you will feel empowered to proceed boldly with life and its unknown challenges.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Person-centred counselling works from the understanding that if three core values inform a counselling relationship then each person will feel valued and free to be that person one truly is.

These values are: 

  • a genuine counsellor - that is, the counsellor does not present a façade to the client but is true to herself and consistently conveys a spirit of self-awareness in her own responses to the client;
  • empathy - the counsellor endeavours to listen closely to the client, to hear the feelings and the words, so that the client feels understood; and
  • unconditional positive regard - this is the attribute of valuing the client: being on your side, recognising your heart / your inner goodness. This is not to say that I may not like some aspects of your behaviour but I will hopefully understand the impulses that make you act in perhaps a self-protective or destructive manner.

Existential counselling is a dynamic therapeutic approach that focuses on concerns of existence. It is a sensibility to the ultimate concerns that every individual may reflect upon and which may restrict your freedom to fully participate in and enjoy life; these are: death, isolation, meaning in life and freedom.  It is a dynamic approach in that I, the counsellor, respond to the subjective uniqueness of each individual client. We also use the counselling relationship: the present and immediate as a helpful sounding board.  

I work within the frameworks of both these approaches.  Simply put, it means that I recognise that life circumstances throw us and I will be open to listening to you.

WHAT CAN IT TREAT?
Counselling from a person-centred and existential approach can be helpful for issues of:
abuse, anger management, anxiety and stress, bereavement and loss, bullying, childhood related distress, depression, eating disorders, fears and phobias, feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness, low self-confidence, low self-esteem, meaning of life/sense of meaninglessness, post-traumatic stress, post-natal depression, relationship difficulties, sexuality, termination/abortion/miscarriage, trauma, work-related concerns.

TREATMENT SESSIONS & PRICES
An initial 20 minute meeting is free of charge.
Thereafter £40 for a 50 minute session (concessions for students available).

    AVAILABILITY

    • Appointments are available with Susan at Brighton & Hove Therapies on Friday afternoons; other times may be available by negotiation.
    • Please contact Susan direct for more information, or to book your session.

    TO BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT, OR FOR MORE INFORMATION

    Contact Susan:

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