Usually this will involve meeting at a regular time each week and sessions last one hour. I have both day-time and evening appointments spread over the week.
It is not always easy to know how long therapy will last so sometimes the early sessions are a bit of an exploration, and then a sense of the timescale may emerge later. It is an ongoing collaborative journey for us both and gives you space and time to reflect on and think about your life and the issues that concern you.
Periodic informal reviews of the work are usually helpful and I will build these in to the work.
Whilst I know that there may be many reasons why people may not wish or be able to commit to long term work, I also know that there needs to be a commitment from clients to be open to personal exploration and reflection on their life for the work to be truly effective. Sometimes we have several ‘goes’ at therapy and go through different stages of exploration at different periods in our lives.
Our work is confidential except in certain very specific situations. In common with all counsellors and psychotherapists I receive regular supervision of my work but a client's identity and other identifiable features are always protected.
I am happy to meet with young people over the age of 15. As this may involve some contact with parents or carers we would talk about this at the initial session.