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Counselling and Psychotherapy
Counselling and psychotherapy are professional services that support people to develop better understanding of themselves and others, address life difficulties and make the changes they want in their lives. Counsellors and psychotherapists draw on a wide range of therapy interventions and are highly skilled in working across the spectrum of life difficulties. Counsellors and psychotherapists work with current problems, crises, and longer term difficulties. They provide both short and long-term services according to people’s needs. Counsellors and psychotherapists work with individuals, couples, families and groups, according to their training.
How Does Counselling and Psychotherapy Work?
Professional counsellors work within clearly contracted, ethical relationships to support people to explore and resolve life difficulties. Counselling focuses on enhancing people’s capacity to cope with specific life challenges such as relationship endings, bereavement, and anxiety. Seeing a counsellor helps people resolve crises, reduce distress, develop goals for change and improve their wellbeing. Counselling also assists with problem solving and developing inner resources to move on with life in meaningful ways. Counselling can also help in achieving change in the personality or self. Often people notice that the nature of their personal difficulties is repetitive. Similar issues arise time and again in different contexts and relationships. Counselling helps people achieve better self-understanding and change long-standing patterns of behaviour that may be disrupting relationships, work and study.
How Can Counselling Help You?
Counsellors work with respect for their clients, their values, their beliefs, their uniqueness and their right to self-determination. Over time, the non judgemental and accepting nature of counselling makes it possible to face painful experiences and unknown parts of self. Counselling takes people beyond where they can go by themselves.
Training and Qualifications
Counsellors and psychotherapists have in depth training over several years. Training is provided by universities and private training institutes. PACFA and ACA set a high level of training standards and accredits counselling and psychotherapy training programs. In addition to theories of change and human development, training programs also focus on personal development of counsellors and psychotherapists.