Many people who seek counselling support are going through emotional difficulties or have something specific that they want to work on finding a solution to.
Some people use Counselling as a way to learn more about themselves, to understand how they have become the person they have or for Personal Development.
Counselling can offer you a confidential, safe space at a regular time during which you can talk to a trained professional about whatever is causing you concern at the time.
By facilitating the exploration of your thought processes and beliefs a Counsellor is able to help you to identify where these beliefs came from and to decide for yourself what is outdated and how you can make the necessary changes.
This process is by no means easy. More often than not it will involve talking about situations and relationships, both past and present, which may cause pain and distress.
In my experience, the benefits to Counselling far outweigh the downsides and people that make the most lasting changes to their lives are those who are brave enough to be open and honest about what is going on for them both within the Counselling Room and between sessions.
Many professionals use Counselling Skills in order to carry out their jobs (eg. Doctors, Nurses, Psychiatrists, Social Workers). However, these professionals are not always trained as Counsellors so may be unable to offer the same helping relationship that a qualified Counsellor can offer.