The Carlton Vale Psychotherapy Practice

Psychotherapy------Counselling-----Adoption Counselling

In LONDON, NW6 Our practice in NW6 is in easy reach of London Boroughs of Brent, Camden, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham. It is close to Kilburn, St. John's Wood and Maida Vale.

In HERTFORDSHIRE we are in easy reach of Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Watford, Chesham, Rickmansworth, Amersham, Aylesbury, Tring and Wendover.

This website provides an opportunity to explore questions you may have about counselling and psychotherapy. We have provided links to other sites which give you an opportunity to see how different organisations describe the work of counselling and psychotherapy. We also provide a link to a specialist bookshop and to three bodies which register and accredit psychotherapists and counsellors in this country.

CHOOSING A THERAPIST: The choice of a therapist is a very personal one. If you have decided that you want to consult a counsellor or psychotherapist you will need to be as sure as you can be of two things:
1) that you feel sufficiently comfortable with the therapist you are seeing to work with them, and
2) that the therapist you are seeing can work with your specific difficulties.

Should you decide you would like to see one of us, the first step would be to contact us to make an initial appointment to explore the presenting issue and what you know of the background to this. This meeting would be without obligation.

Sometimes a second meeting is needed for both yourself and the therapist in order to decide how to proceed. The choice whether or not to begin psychotherapy or counselling, and with whom can only be made by yourself. Meetings with a psychotherapist last for 50 minutes at a time.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PSYCHOTHERAPY AND COUNSELLING

COUNSELLING work is usually time limited. It is exploratory and aims to help you to think about and understand an issue that you have. If possible within the time available, counselling would seek to help you resolve that issue. One of the results of this short term work could be that you recognise your issue needs more time than you initially thought. We would then discuss your options with you. It would be your own choice whether or not to take this further.

PSYCHOTHERAPY is therapeutic work undertaken over a longer period of time, usually when someone has become aware that they have one or more personal issue(s) to address and have decided that they wish to do this with the help of a psychotherapist. This is particularly useful for people who feel that their difficulties are persistent or deeply ingrained, for instance when you have repeated disappointments or struggles in your relationships, be they close relatives, partners, parents, children, work colleagues or friends.

ADOPTION COUNSELLING is a service for anyone affected in any way by adoption.
This includes: adopted persons, adoptive parents, birthparents (people who have given up or lost a child to adoption), young people in care, or parents with children in care where an adoption has broken down.


People who come to see a psychotherapist or counsellor are, like all of us, trying to deal with issues of living - birth and death, having and losing, health and illness, the various capacities and limitations that we all have. You may be trying to come to terms with difficult experiences. You may also find yourself confronting the apparent fact that you experience yourself as unable to deal with your difficulty alone, despite your own inner resources.

We work with people who are for instance experiencing depression, confusion, stress, tension, anger, fear and phobias, psychosomatic symptoms, loss and bereavement, sleeping difficulties and insomnia, with people who have experienced a traumatic event or events or have issues around self esteem and self confidence, with people who have used mental health services and people with many other issues. Whatever your presenting issue may be, we will always hold in mind that we are working with a person with inner strengths and vulnerabilities and we will work to understand your presenting difficulty in its human context.


FURTHER INFORMATION

On this website we have provided links to a number of sites. The BACP, UKCP, BCP, the Post-Adoption Centre and Adoption Link all operate registers of qualified and accredited practitioners. The other websites included provide an opportunity to inform yourself more about counselling and psychotherapy.

The therapists represented by this website are qualified practitioners accredited by the United Kingdon Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and The Post-Adoption Centre (PAC).

If you are coming to see a therapist for the first time we will take time. We will refer you to another practitioner or therapy organisation if we consider this to be appropriate. The choice to begin counselling or psychotherapy needs to be a deliberate choice made by you.


The Carlton Vale Psychotherapy Practice

In HERTFORDSHIRE:

Northchurch
Berkhamsted
Herts

In LONDON:

London, NW6, close to the Edgware Road and Maida Vale Tube Stations.

Our contact information is on page three of this website.