COUNSELLING SERVICE IN MANCHESTER

Common sources of stress include one's own or other's circumstances related to work, family, relationship, debt or health issues. Naturally, stress is our body's physical and emotional reaction to being under pressure or feeling threatened. We can tolerate it in small amounts. It's when we have been exposed to stress for too long and regularly, it can have a detrimental effect on our mental and physical wellbeing. Not only our palms get sweaty when we are stressed, we feel like we cannot breathe or that we are going to faint.

Exposure to high levels of stress regularly can further trigger anxiety; a feeling of constant unease or worry as a result of threat – real or imagined, with a similar physical reaction to stress – shortness of breath, dizziness or a racing heart. Panic attacks can happen further down the line, too.

Exposure to high levels of stress regularly can further trigger anxiety; a feeling of constant unease or worry as a result of threat – real or imagined, with a similar physical reaction to stress – shortness of breath, dizziness or a racing heart. Panic attacks can happen further down the line, too.

Many of us experience periods when we feel sad, lonely or unhappy in our life. This is considered fairly normal. We can't be happy all day, every day of our lives, it is not realistic. Life brings along challenges and experiences that may not always be pleasant and yet we have to go through them. We may go through waves of low mood, which can come and go after a few days or a couple of weeks.

It is when we feel persistently sad and unhappy for a longer period of time (a few weeks or months), that may be a concern for a depressive illness. People will experience depression during or after going through a difficult time in life, such as bereavement, stress, abuse or family problems. A depressive illness could run in a family or we could experience it for no reason at all.

Counselling can help you explore the root of you feeling low or depressed, process your feelings and emotions without being judged and identify coping mechanisms you can employ so your daily functioning becomes less of a struggle and more of an enjoyable experience. This, in turn, will translate positively into your personal, social and work life, feeling more balanced and in control.

A high level of stress regularly can trigger anxiety; a feeling of constant unease or worry as a result of threat - real or imagined, with a similar physical reaction to stress - shortness of breath, dizziness, a racing heart. Anxiety can make you feel tense, nervous and unable to relax or focus at work and fill you with a sense of dread or fearing the worst. It can make you feel tearful and 'worried about the worries'. Racing thoughts, overthinking, feeling irritable, problems with sleep, change in appetite or sex drive, dissociation - these are all symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety can further make you avoid situations, things or people that heighten any of these physical and mental symptoms. As a result, you may gradually become more withdrawn and isolated, potentially leading to a depressive mood.

Counselling helps you get out of the 'what if' cycle where you 'catastrophize' and think of every possible scenario of what could go wrong. I always say to my clients: "Excessive, unhealthy thoughts about what could go wrong instead of right in our future feed our anxiety levels - like fuel to fire". Not being present and focusing on the 'here and now' and what is good about our lives, takes our focus away from reality and the present. Stopping to pause to reason with oneself and look at what is real and what is imagined will slowly reverse this vicious cycle. Counselling will help you find ways to manage your anxiety better and feel calmer and in control on everyday basis. We can't control anyone or external situations, and yet we can control ourselves and how we respond to those.

It is no secret that some of us find it difficult to create new relationships or sustain the existing ones without any hiccups. Many of us, however, struggle to maintain relationships with others. Not just from the romantic perspective but friendships, family relationships, work or other social connections we may have.

Internal and external circumstances can cause us to hit a wall at some point in our lives where we might need some professional help such as counselling in resolving the situation keeping us stuck in a rut.

My role as a counsellor is to help you clarify and understand your situation, offer a fresh perspective on things and help you find solutions that benefit you most, so you can move forward in your life. I can help you recognise and understand your feelings, emotions, perceptions and actions that you are going through as a result of your circumstance as well as to see the impact it has on all aspects of your life, helping you learn new, more effective ways of managing the situation better.

Self-awareness is the first step in creating what we want and mastering our life. Where we focus our attention, our emotions, reactions, personality and behaviour determine where we go in life. Having self-awareness allows us to see where our thoughts and emotions are taking us. It also allows us to take control of our emotions, behaviour, and personality so we can make changes we want. Until we are aware in the moment of our thoughts, emotions, words, and behaviour, we will have difficulty making changes in the direction of our life.

Counselling helps you learn about yourself, your values, beliefs, behaviours, emotions, feelings, strength and weaknesses. Digging deep and getting to know the real you is where the change starts. As a counsellor, I will help you build your self-awareness, leading to a better understanding of yourself and others, growing as a person.

Personal growth and development can be a very challenging task, especially if we don't know where to start. If we want to grow and progress, we have to be brave enough to take on new challenges and make changes. We must start with ourselves. One must know him/herself inside and out so he/she can make the best choices to benefit him/her in life.

We don't become the person we want to be by staying the person we are now.

Personal growth and development require challenging our mind and body. It requires taking on change and facing difficulties head-on. As a counsellor, I will help you explore your strengths and weaknesses, identify and understand your values and emotions so we can find ways to build on the positives and improve on your weaker points.

Whether you are extroverted or introverted, a social butterfly or you enjoy staying in the comfort of your home, counselling can help improve the way you communicate with others and the way you speak to yourself, too. A counsellor facilitates the client's self-exploration and learning about oneself.

Some of us may not be aware of the way we speak and respond to others or situations. Not only we communicate our responses to others (and ourselves) with words, but the tone of voice, our actions in that moment, our body language, facial expressions and even by silence. These are all forms of communication we use and receive every day. The way we speak and being spoken to can create frictions in relationships or trigger things in others or within ourselves.

Some of us find silence awkward and mask our confidence issues with being loud and a centre of attention. Some of us find it hard to open up to friends, partner or family, holding ourselves back from achieving our potential.

Counselling is about self-exploration and implementation of new, better ways of being with ourselves and others. As a counsellor, I can help you become aware your communication style (what, how and why you communicate the way you do) and together we can work on improving your communication skills and finding new, more effective ways of expressing yourself.

Self-confidence is a feeling of trust in your own abilities and qualities and judgement.

Low confidence can prevent us from taking risks and taking on opportunities in school, at work, in our personal or social life. This will harm our self-esteem and our mental health, making us feel like a failure or not being good enough.

Too much confidence, on the other hand, can come across as arrogant or cocky.

Counselling helps you build your confidence. A counsellor helps you become aware of your emotions and feelings, acknowledging and working with difficult emotions rather than avoiding them. You can then start practising confidence-growing exercises to become the confident person you always dreamt to be and to achieve your real potential in personal and professional life.

Self-esteem (often referred to as self-worth or self-respect) is the opinion we have of ourselves, our overall sense of self-worth or personal value. In other words, how much we appreciate and like ourselves.

Self-esteem (often referred to as self-worth or self-respect) is the opinion we have of ourselves, our overall sense of self-worth or personal value. In other words, how much we appreciate and like ourselves.

Low self-esteem can be brought about at any stage of our lives. It often starts in childhood where we are fed with positive and negative messages about ourselves by our parents, teachers, friends, social media. We internalise their opinions about ourselves and values as our own and bring them with us into different stages of our development and over to adulthood.

Unhealthy, extremely high self-esteem (opinion of ourselves), on the other hand, can be a sign of narcissism (a mental health disorder), be off-putting to others and can damage relationships.

Counselling helps build a healthy self-esteem. A skilled counsellor will help you identify the negative beliefs you hold about yourself and the negative thought pattern you employ. Then, the counsellor will help you learn how to challenge the negative image of yourself, effectively leading to a change of the way you view yourself and the amount of love you give yourself, increasing your sense of worth.

Loss comes in different forms. The word loss tends to be mostly translated as death. Losing a loved one - a child, husband, parent, sibling, it's never easy. Loss, however, means many other things too - a loss of friendship, job, financial stability, a loss of abilities, romantic relationship. The grieving process always follows regardless the type of loss. Everyone one of us perceives and reacts to loss differently as an individual.

Counselling can help you process loss and move forward in your life. Talking through your emotions and processing the pain you have been left with - anger, frustration, denial, depression, counselling will help you heal and recover. It won't be easy and it will take time, but it will be worth it.

Trauma is caused by going through a stressful, frightening or distressing experience at some point in life. Whether it's losing a parent, witnessing a car crash or experiencing abuse as a child, it can leave invisible wounds and scars on us. Our mental and physical health can suffer for many years to come unless we confront it.

Many of us experience not just one but multiple traumatic experiences in life. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - endless flashbacks, nightmares or unpleasant body sensations or feeling as if we are re-living the experience each time we go through something similar can be haunting our lives until we confront our traumatic experiences and face our own fear of going through the feelings and pain again.

Counselling provides a safe and non-judgemental space where you can build your strength to face your past trauma head-on, giving you the time and support you need to process it, reflect on it and move on from it to live your life again when you are ready. Your counsellor will be there to walk alongside you all the way so you are not alone in it.

Whether you were born with it, diagnosed with it at some point in life or limitations we involuntarily imposed on you, living with a medical condition, illness or disability can be mentally and physically taxing on you and everyone around you. Stigma doesn't help. It's heartbreaking enough for one to know there is that 'extra' life served them with.

Living with a medical condition can affect our confidence and self-esteem, leaving us to feel different, unwanted and hopeless. It can take away our private, social and work life, making us feel as if we gave up on ourselves.

It's very important to remember that your medical status does not define who you are as a person or what you can achieve in life. If you believe you can, you will. And if you don't, as yet, counselling can help you navigate through and find that anchor you need to re-frame and re-adjust. Voicing your feelings, experiences or emotions without being judged in counselling has a real healing effect on mind and soul. I can help you do exactly that here at SimplyTalk Counselling.