counselling

Some people may not even be interested in those insights. However you feel about psycho-education during your sessions, you should be able to have an open conversation about this with your prospect or current counsellor.

Some clients deeply dislike self-disclosures and prefer their sessions to contain only content about the client. Some people like to sense that their counsellor is a human with emotions and find it helpful.

We all know this: we say something, and the other person responds with “umm” or “aha!” Those responses can be helpful or irritating, especially when we feel that there is no genuine interest in the listener.

Reflections can sometimes be triggering for clients who have previously accessed therapy and did not particularly enjoy it.

If the relationship between the client and the counsellor feels incongruent (counselling word for a bad match), we can later have negative experiences around basic counselling techniques.

This is an important preference, and a good counsellor should ask you if you like to be challenged. It’s essential to agree on how you will work with your counsellor around emotions, behaviours, and experiences.

Some counselling approaches (like CBT) come with pre-defined forms of homework, for example, tracking your mood between the sessions. Other approaches, like person-centred talking therapies, prioritise active listening in the room. Integrated approaches allow more freedom around this.

What if I do not like structured sessions? Or what if I really need a structure to my therapy sessions to feel safe and well? Does it matter?

Welcome to our short guide to counselling preferences. It is important to consider our counselling preferences when accessing therapy, so here are a few things to consider. Goals or no goals?