Counselling and Psychotherapy in Cranleigh near Guildford & Aldershot

How I can help

Human Givens counselling offers effective and practical help for people who are stressed, distressed, depressed, anxious, phobic, or suffering from trauma, addiction, anger disorders or relationship difficulties. For some of these conditions I use the Human Givens Trauma Treatment, which is consistent with the NICE-approved Trauma-focused CBT, with the additional benefit of not having to re-tell the detail of the trauma. My therapy is focused on psychological solutions, in as brief a time scale as appropriate, and including practical and socially supportive skills.

Further examples of conditions that can be helped are:

Stress-related disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Phobias, Panic Attacks,Insomnia/sleep disorders/nightmares, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Anger.

Personal crises such as Accident/Trauma, Miscarriage, Bereavement, Redundancy,
Divorce, Coping with illness & pain including cancer.

Functioning better by managing Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Stopping dependencies and habits such as Drinking, Smoking, Eating Disorders, Nail-biting.

Achieving personal growth by building/re-building self-esteem, self-confidence, enhancing job/career satisfaction, improving sporting performance, improving public speaking, improving learning/exams skills, resolving relationship/emotional/sexual difficulties.

Nutrition is an essential part of health and well-being; I will point you in the right direction for healthy eating.

Stress Management
How much is stress affecting your life?

Managing stress effectively is an important part of a person's health. If a person is in a life-threatening situation or feels or imagines (s)he is in danger, an automatic reflex action in the mind is triggered to prepare her/him for the emergency. This is called the 'Fight or Flight' response or Alarm Reaction. Immediate physiological changes in the body take place as a result of the reaction of the Sympathetic Nervous system. For example the adrenal glands produce adrenalin that keeps the stress reaction going. Adrenalin is like the body's accelerator, keeping it going at a peak rate. Normally, the stress response is designed to reduce as a result of the physical exertion involved in the fight or flight response.

However, in modern living, the danger is that the alarm reaction is triggered most of the time for all manner of situations at work and at home, both physical and emotional. Our foot is kept on the accelerator giving no time for the mind/body system to normalise. The body gets so used to the mind firing off the stress response that it does so inappropriately and can leave us with very unpleasant symptoms. Thus the risk of a person becoming physically or emotionally ill is greatly increased.

Some of the pointers to stress include:

reduced concentration
irritability
relationship problems
anxiety and depression
health and sleep problems
constant tiredness
loss of motivation
lower self-esteem

I can help you understand the nature of stress and how to manage it,

how to identify your own personal stress factors
how to spot the warning signs in yourself and those around you
how to take effective coping action

Relaxation and Visualisation
Relaxation is the natural antidote to stress. When a person is stressed a signal is sent to the brain that there is danger and the sympathetic nervous system is activated. Relaxation cancels this message by activating the parasympathetic nervous system thus the signal to the brain changes and switches off the stress response.

Correct breathing is the basis of all relaxation. Breathing from the diaphragm in a controlled way allows the correct balance of chemicals in the blood. This is very important because stressed people tend to breathe very shallowly and this can prevent them not only from being relaxed but also cause some unpleasant symptoms. Correct breathing is a learned behaviour and when the skills are in place it can aid most stressful situations.

Visualisation or guided imagery (trance, hypnosis) is the most powerful resource a person has for effecting change. Constructive use of the imagination can discover new possibilities thereby restoring balance and enriching our lives.