Relationships : Relationships are complex and at some time in our lives all of us have problems with them. A good relationship depends on good communications but we often assume that our loved ones must know how we feel. This is not the case. Ways of being with our partners can sometimes feel so rigid that we can forget that we have choices about how we behave in that relationship. We may feel unloved, unappreciated, unacknowledged and so on. Relationships can feel persecutory and if we do not tell our partners how we are feeling we can become more and more resentful and angry.
How can counselling help with Relationship difficulties? Because they are not caught up in the relationship a counsellor will be able to help you to understand what is going on in your relationship. Your counsellor may be able to offer a different perspective on an event, while at the same time validating your experience of the situation. The session will give you the space and time to talk through your feelings and enable you to make changes if that is what you decide you would like to do.
Employment difficulties : Working life today is more stressful than it has ever been. Whether you work in a business, the public sector, health, education or for a charity, the pressure to perform is relentless. However well you do your job, they always want
more – and give you less time and resources to provide it. No job is safe. You may have experienced redundancy, or you may live with the threat of it every day of your working life. Even those who are relatively secure may wonder if they are in the right job. So many jobs these days seem artificial, cut off from what really matters in life. We respond to these problems in various ways. We may be so stressed we cannot sleep, or suffer one of the many stress-related diseases. We may spend much of our lives in a state of anxiety, worrying about our work, about our future, about money. This may affect our work, setting up a vicious circle and making us even more anxious so that we may find it difficult to enjoy anything in our lives.
How can counselling help with Employment Difficulties?
Talking to a counsellor, can help you to understand what really matters to you. Ways of dealing with a particular colleague or striking a better balance between work and home may occur to you. If you are thinking of changing your job, you can get clear in your own mind what would be the advantages and answer those “yes, but” questions. Through counselling you may come to recognise that a work problem is part of a bigger pattern in your life. You can look at how this patter became established and realise that you are free to change it if you wish. Work is a central part of our lives. Counselling can help it to play a positive rather than a negative role.