Counselling Services

Depression

Depression and anxiety are incredibly widespread and common within our society, around one in six adults in the UK estimated to be suffering with an anxiety or depression related condition at any one time.   It is important to remember that there is nothing wrong with being depressed or anxious; it is extremely commonplace, affects a wide variety of people – all types of people get depressed – and in many respects depression and anxiety are perfectly natural and plausible responses to the pressures and ordeals of modern life.

Depression and anxiety can occur for many reasons, the causes can be complex.  The symptoms and the way it is experienced can vary greatly and even though there are some common signs of depression such as sleep deprivation, changes in appetite, being irritable, losing interest in things, being tearful and emotional etc. individuals often experience these feelings in very different ways.  

If you feel depressed or anxious, it is important to remember that you have done nothing wrong, you are not weak and you can get help and support.   Understanding the things that make you feel anxious or depressed is important and over time it is possible with the right help and support that you can manage and be free from the feelings of depression or anxiety.  Like anything that is troubling you, it is always best to seek help and support.  

Bereavement and Loss

It is perfectly natural to feel a range of emotions when we experience a significant loss or the bereavement of someone close to us.  We can experience, sadness, loneliness, guilt, anger, and a range of other emotions at different times – in fact our emotions can change repeatedly as we come to terms with loss, this is an entirely natural response in the circumstances.  Bereavement and loss impacts us all differently and we all move through the various stages of grief at our own pace, but this can leave us feeling confused, overwhelmed and sometimes bewildered. 

It can be helpful to work through your feelings with a trained counsellor, who can help you understand that your response to your loss is a wholly natural response and is to be expected.  A trained counsellor can help you put things into perspective, help you deal with the range of feelings you are experiencing and help you to manage your ongoing feelings towards the person you have lost.  It is important to remember that we all deal with things differently, there is no ‘right way’ to deal with grief, so working with a counsellor and dealing with things at your own pace can be helpful and beneficial. 

Workplace Issues

Experiencing issues within the workplace is very commonplace and can arise for a variety of reasons, many of them beyond your control.  A new job, a new boss, changes in your department, a restructure, new responsibilities, being put at risk of, or being made redundant, being managed unfairly, being given too much work etc.  can all result in issues in the workplace that make you anxious, can make you depressed, that can affect your physical and mental health and can make you reluctant to go to work.  In more extreme cases you may feel harassed or bullied.  Whenever, you feel that issues at work have not been right for a few weeks you should consider taking steps to address it.  We all have a bad day at work but when bad days keep repeating themselves than maybe its time to act.  Sometimes issues creep up on you asyou keep getting given more and more work and you work longer and longer hours to accommodate the workload biut at some point you realise that you have lost your work like balance and issues at work start to impact your personal life.  Your family start to suffer, or you stop socialising with friends etc because you are too busy or too tired. 

Talking to someone outside the workplace about issues and concerns at work can help you put things into perspective.   Person centred counselling can help you understand the issues that concern you, give you a balanced perspective of what is really happening and give you the confidence to manage things appropriately.  Sometimes issues in the workplace are a matter of misunderstanding, often those around you have no idea that you are feeling anxious, or that your workload is too great, or you are being given tasks that you do not feel skilled or trained to perform.  Its always best to talk, to understand and consider the options open to you.