Helen lees

My approach to counselling and supervision incorporates:

 

• Belief in the counselling ‘process’ and ‘human potential’

I am constantly in ore of the resilience and resourcefulness of the people I work with; qualities we can often struggle to appreciate within ourselves.

• Investigative stance and the promotion of listening

To me this means not holding on to ideas or explanations so tightly that you no longer hear the alternatives.

• Awareness = choice

Bringing into awareness ways of being which have been ‘who someone is’ for so long they have become automatic as this can remove a person’s sense of choice. Counselling can  offer the time to step back, take a breath and decide if this response, thought, feeling or behaviour is who you would like to be and the opportunity to do things differently.

• Mindfulness

Paying attention to emotional pain, you can't do anything about it if you don't know about it. Mindfulness for me is less about relaxation and more about experiencing. Not just being open to the experiences, feelings and thoughts we like; but being just as open to the unpleasant ones as equally important sources of information.

• Working with an aim

An aim or counselling goal can be an important reference point to support a person getting what they want from counselling. I wouldn’t expect you to have a complete grasp of what has bought you to counselling and what your aims are before starting counselling or even in the first few weeks. These will often become clearer during the process 

• Interest in relationship patterns

I have found there is a great deal of benefit in exploring relationship patterns, again from the standpoint of awareness = choice. At some point the relationship pattern or role within the pattern a person plays, could have worked or made sense and over time, the repetition of patterns and roles can create a sense of them being embedded or automatic. However, over time these patterns and roles can become inappropriate for the current situation but remain active. Counselling can offer a safe environment to become aware and experience our patterns and roles as well as the opportunity to practise doing things differently.

• Working Creatively

Creative interventions, such as working with imagery and metaphor, can offer a great vehicle for aiding expression of something  you cannot find the words to talk about or support an awareness of something you didn’t consciously know was there. It can support you to understanding and organising what is going on and help you to imagine and explore change.