COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
I provide both counselling and psychotherapy for individuals. Counselling and psychotherapy are often thought to be the same thing, but it is important to understand the subtle differences in the type of therapeutic work involved in each.
Counselling assumes that the individual needs support in dealing with a particular problem, for example obsessive thinking or unusually high anxiety. A set number of sessions is planned and they are aimed at looking at ways of solving the problem. We work with strategies such as CBT techniques or multimodal therapy. Counselling methods, notwithstanding their short-term nature, can reveal a great deal of information about yourself and help you gain deeper insights and overcome difficulties.
Psychotherapy is deeper and open-ended. It focuses on emotional difficulties and inner conflicts that build up over many years. It attempts to go to the root of the issue, bringing awareness and pointing at new possibilities of expressing oneself. The length of therapy is not pre-planned and cannot be predicted – it may be for up to a year or for several years. How long it continues depends on your needs and what you want to make of the therapeutic space.
People seek therapy for different reasons. Some people initially look for counselling and then they decide to stay for psychotherapy. Some come because they feel overwhelmed by life. Others come not for a specific problem, but because they would like to know and understand themselves at a deeper level. In any case, therapy acts like a mirror through which we can see ourselves as we really are, and often for the very first time in our lives. It can be challenging but also comforting, difficult but also encouraging.
GETTING STARTED – THE INITIAL CONSULTATION
If you think that you might benefit from counselling or psychotherapy, you can contact me and we will arrange to meet for an initial consultation. Initial consultations cost £40 and last 50 minutes. An initial consultation is a one-off session that helps you get a better idea of what counselling and psychotherapy entails and could also be your starting point on that road to discovering yourself. As part of good practice, I will ask you to bring your GP’s details.
The initial consultation is your opportunity to discuss all the difficulties that have brought you to counselling/psychotherapy. I will use this session to gather information about your life and your experiences that will be used to guide the therapeutic process in future sessions. The initial consultation will also help us have a first impression of how and whether we can work together.
If we both agree to continue onto the next stage of the journey together, we will book our first session at the end of the initial consultation. Our first few sessions will involve an evaluation of your needs – we will explore and expand what emerged in the first consultation. This evaluation period will last up to three sessions. By the end of this period, it will be clearer to both of us whether we can have a relationship that meets your needs as a client, which is fundamental to the therapeutic process. We will then review the work done so far and we will discuss the next steps.
STRUCTURE OF COUNSELLING/PSYCHOTHERAPY SESSIONS
Sessions are normally held at least once a week. Once we have agreed to work together, we will establish a convenient time when we can meet on a weekly basis, and that day/time will be fixed every week. Other arrangements can be agreed depending on your circumstances.
Each session lasts for 50 minutes.
Fees start from a minimum of £50 and will vary depending on time and your circumstances. Please contact me for further information.
LOCATION
Sessions take place at The Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education (CCPE):
Beauchamp Lodge
2 Warwick Crescent
London W2 6NE
Nearest tube station: Paddington, Warwick Avenue (see map for directions)
I also practice at Terapia Consultancy:
9 Coldbath Square
London
EC1R 5HL
Nearest tube station: Farrindgon, Russell Square (see map for directions)
CONTACTS
You can call me on 07553 244004 or, alternatively, you can email me at info@vincenzoperri.co.uk