A space to be heard
Counselling offers space to talk about feelings, relationships, and difficult life events. It can be a way to explore concerns such as grief, anxiety, stress, or changes in your personal life.
You do not need to have every answer before starting a conversation. Listening and reflection can help you identify what matters to you and what you would like to work on.
Before arranging a session, ask about the counsellor’s experience, the approach used, privacy, and any fees. Discuss the type of support you need so that you can decide whether the service is a suitable fit.
For relationship concerns, counselling provides an opportunity to explore communication and different perspectives. Contact the ashramam to ask about individual or relationship support currently available.
Before your first conversation
- Tell us which concerns you would like to discuss.
- Ask about availability, the practitioner, privacy, and any fees.
- Confirm how to arrange a session and where it will take place.
Contact us for current timings, availability, and any fees before travelling.
Understanding counselling approaches
Choosing an approach
Counsellors may draw on different approaches. Ask how a session is structured, what you can expect, and how the approach relates to the concerns you want to discuss.
Integrative counselling
An integrative approach draws on more than one counselling model. The combination may vary according to the person and the focus of the sessions.
Humanistic counselling
Humanistic approaches focus on the person’s experience, choices, and capacity for growth. Conversations may explore feelings, values, and personal meaning.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness involves paying attention to the present moment. In a counselling setting, it may be used to explore awareness of thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations.
Person-centred counselling
Person-centred counselling places the person’s own experience at the centre of the conversation, with an emphasis on listening, understanding, and personal choices.
Psychodynamic counselling
Psychodynamic approaches explore how past experiences and relationships may connect with present feelings and patterns of behaviour.
Cognitive behavioural therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy explores connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Ask whether this approach is offered and about the practitioner’s training before arranging a session.
Gestalt counselling
Gestalt approaches focus on awareness of present experience, including thoughts, feelings, actions, and how a person relates to others.