How We Work With You
This page describes what you can expect from therapy sessions with a KlearMinds counsellor, psychotherapist and life coach.
Our 4 Step Approach
Education
Understanding is power. We help you to understand all of the factors that contribute to your difficulties. This provides a solid foundation upon which you can start to implement, new and effective changes to improve your situation.
Advice
We will give you advice and strategies when you need them, so that you don’t have to worry about figuring it all out yourself. We will also empower you to discover solutions that come from your own wisdom because it holds some of the best solutions for you.
Support
Making positive change can be challenging. With the right support it can be made easier. We support you in both personal and practical ways that empower and strengthen your ability to make the changes you want to achieve.
Speed
We understand that it can take a long time to seek help and that by the time you meet us, you want to overcome the problem as quickly as possible. We take the best ideas from life coaching, counselling and psychotherapy. This combination achieves fast, effective, lasting change.
What Happens at My First Appointment?
The first meeting, is an opportunity for you to explore whether working with us will help you find solutions to tackle the challenge(s) you are facing and achieve what you want. During this meeting we like to obtain a basic outline of the issue(s) which made you seek our service and identify what a good therapy outcome would look like for you. This meeting is also an opportunity for you to check out our style of working. We like to answer any questions you have about the way we work. We will let you know if we think the skills we have will make us effective in supporting you to find a solution for your problem. If we do not think we can be of help, we will make recommendations for alternatives that may be more helpful to you.
If we believe we can help you, we are aware that you might like to go away and think for a while before making a decision to work with us or not. Alternatively, you may like to organise a further meeting or more at the end of the session.
How Many Counselling Sessions Will I Need?
- The length of time that you have been having difficulties
- The degree of change that you want to achieve
- Your level of self confidence
- How well the type of therapy provided matches your personal learning style
Ultimately, we believe, you will know when you no longer need therapy because you will have achieved the changes you want. If initially, you are not sure how long you need, as the work progresses, you will get a sense of what works best for you. To give you some indication of the possibilities for working with us, you can read below some different ways that clients have used our services. All contracts are flexible and can be changed at any time.
Brief Contracts
Some people find one meeting may be enough to clarify or find a solution to a problem.
Short or Medium Contracts
To gain understanding of a specific problem and identify some ways to deal with it, 3-6 sessions can be useful. To develop a range of solutions and address your problems with the benefit of ongoing support while you experiment and practice, 8-12 sessions can be helpful. If the problem is longstanding or there are several problems which need tackling, 24 sessions or more may be more appropriate. All contracts are flexible and can be changed at any time.
Flexible Contracts
You can use therapy to address a particular issue, then go away and test out its effectiveness. If you find it has helped, you may want to come back for another contract to tackle another aspect of life that you would like to improve.
Open Ended Contracts
You may want to develop a stronger sense of self and explore a number of difficulties and/or you may just prefer the idea of an open ended contract. This way, you can end therapy when you feel ready.
How Are Counselling Sessions Organised?
We believe flexibility is important and change can be achieved using a variety of different session formats. Your therapist will be happy to make recommendations you might find helpful and work flexibly with your schedule, when possible. Here are a few format examples below:
Counselling Sessions for Individuals
Session Format: In general meetings are organised weekly, at the same time, on the same day – because this format is proven effective. Some people use a fortnightly or other types of schedule, due to work flexibility or other reasons. Good work can be achieved in this format. Sometimes it might be a bit slower than a weekly format, as the time is more spread out. It all depends on the type of issues you are wanting to resolve.
Single Session: For individuals, a session lasts 50 minutes. In general, meetings are organised weekly, at the same time, on the same day – because this format is proven effective.
Double Session: Sometimes people like to do a double session or more because a lot of work can be covered in that format. This can provide a good kick start to making initial changes or be a useful way to tackle a particular issue, more quickly.
Flexible Session: Some people use a fortnightly or other type of schedule, due to work flexibility or other reasons.
Counselling Sessions for Couples
Session Format: In general meetings are organised weekly, at the same time, on the same day – because this format is proven effective. Some couples use a fortnightly or other type of schedule, due to work flexibility or other reasons. Good work can be achieved in these formats.
Single Session: A single session lasts 50 minutes. Some couples just want one session to get clarity regarding a particular aspect of the relationship. Other couples who have undertaken sessions, and feel they are on the path towards effective change, find single sessions can be useful as a top up to help keep the momentum of positive change building until they don’t need us any more.
Double Session: A double session lasts one hour and 50 minutes. Some couples find it helpful to begin the work with a double session. I can provide more space and time to gain clarity and understanding on the issues you both feel are important whilst allowing for time to consider some strategies that can start you on the road towards the changes you each want.
Confidential Therapy Sessions
Maintaining your confidentiality is central to our work. Each therapist does not discuss the details of your therapy sessions with anyone else without your permission. Breaking confidentiality would only be considered in the following exceptional circumstances, these include: if your therapist is concerned you may be seriously at risk of harming yourself, harming another person or if another person is seriously of harm to you or if a child is at risk of being harmed. In such instances your therapist will make every effort to discuss the situation with you first but if that was not possible, your therapist would consider contacting relevant services e.g. your GP or emergency services.
Quality Standards
Our hand-selected therapists have trained in the UK’s most respected institutions. They hold a minimum of 8 and up to 30 years clinical experience within the NHS, private and/or charitable sectors. They are registered with:
