The Counselling I Provide

Welcome! I'm Ben, an accredited person centred counsellor and counselling supervisor, with over 13 years' experience in online and face‑to‑face work with children, young people, and adults. At the heart of my work is safety, confidentiality, and a quality of attention.

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Counselling can be a scary process, especially if it’s your first time, so let’s try and make this a pleasant experience from the very beginning.

First of all, feeling nervous, scared, or unsure — that’s normal, and it’s okay. What you’re doing, reaching out to someone for help, is a difficult thing to do. Your counselling journey has already begun by looking into counselling, with possibly the intention of getting in touch. Believe it or not, you’re further ahead than many others. Already, you’re smashing it!

It might take some time to do some of your own research, then to reach out; there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s okay — it takes as long as it takes. It’s nobody else’s process but your own, and this is what the whole process of counselling is about: you, and what you want it to look like. From beginning to end, my role as a counsellor is to facilitate a process by giving you the time and the space to go wherever you need to go, and at your own pace. In our sessions, you’re in control.

Counselling is confidential. Other than the most extreme circumstances, everything that you say in counselling sessions will not be shared anywhere or with anyone. It’s called a safe space for a reason. It may take some time to adjust to this concept. There are not many environments that offer confidentiality to this degree. Even after the counselling relationship has ended, the information you share remains safe.

As an example, if someone you know makes contact with me wanting to know information about you, such as a friend or family member, even just wanting to know if you are having counselling, as far as they are concerned, I’ve never even heard of you. I’m strict when it relates to confidentiality.

So I'm a person centred counsellor. My approach centres around building a safe and trusting relationship that is flexible and adaptable to your needs. It’s about what you want to get from the counselling relationship that shapes the counselling experience.

I work for you. You’re the client. I don’t tell you what to do, how to live your life, give you homework, or quote textbook scripture. My role is to work towards building a strong and supportive working relationship, using a theoretical approach that revolves around connection, non‑judgement, compassion, and empathy at the core.

The person centred approach is heavily documented to have the strength of working with some of the most complex mental health conditions in existence. The approach tailors to the needs of each individual person, and it is what we’ll be using throughout our time together.

The first time that we meet is most likely to be at our welcome meeting. A welcome meeting is an free and informal 30‑minute meeting that I offer, either by telephone or online. It gives us the chance to introduce ourselves and say hi.

Knowing whether this is going to work for you is important, and it shouldn’t come at a cost to check it out to see if it could potentially help. It’s you're first time reaching out to me and it’s a big step, so let’s make this a smooth process. When you make contact, it’s most likely that you are going to have some questions or are going to want to arrange a time to meet. Either way, I will respond as soon as possible.