ITS founder, Ron Gathercole, was trained as a psychodynamic counsellor. This orientation is mainly concerned with ‘making the unconscious conscious’ which I guess when thinking of the problems of living is more concerned with identifying and understanding underlying causes which in turn brings ‘relief’ and ‘choice’……… ‘It is easier to find your way along a lit path than to stumble about in the darkness.’
Over the years he has identified that some people who are suffering various ‘symptoms’ do not get relief from understanding or identifying causes but actually can get worse and so has integrated other theories and skills into his own practice so he can offer appropriate interventions to the client in front of him. He has also put together a team of affiliate counsellors so we can meet your needs both in terms of the most appropriate intervention but also in cost.
To treat everyone as unique individuals we have made a distinction between symptoms and causes and although both are important, as the treatment of both can be very different, we do not dictate what you the client have to work with.
For many it may be that the symptoms need addressing first and then when not so intense, causes can be identified. (or not as the case may be) for some it may be the treatment of symptoms is sufficient. Others may want to look at causes to avoid symptoms developing again even though they are not in immediate suffering. YOU DECIDE .
By no means is the following a complete list of symptoms and by no means will everyone get all of them, but as a guide, you may be experiencing one or more of…
- Sleeping a lot or sleep disturbance of some kind
- Irritability or unexpected “volatile” behaviour
- Always feeling “down” or pretending to be OK
- Fear or permanent readiness for trouble
- Isolation (emotional or otherwise) or separateness
- Strained relationships (at work or home)
- Loss of self-esteem or feeling “useless”
- “Emptiness” or feeling “flat”
- Weight increase or decrease
- Excessive drinking or other substance use
- Jumpiness or easily startled
- A wish to hurt (others or yourself)
- Lack of hope, optimism or vitality
- Intruding memories or flashbacks
- Different kinds of phobias
- Trappedness
- Mood swings or very “black and white” thinking
- Difficulty in making decisions or trusting intuition
- Avoiding behaviour (tasks, people or certain situations)
- Suicidal thoughts
Of course you must remember that we all experience some of these symptoms some of the time and they must be kept in context. If any of the above trouble you too much or if you don’t know what to do about them you could check them out with us.
Categories of problems
This is not an attempt to categorise you, but instead to categorise some of the problems that you might face. You are not perceived as a category yourself.
You can assume that we have already encountered the problems listed in this section
- Marital or close relationship problems
- Work-related stress
- Depression & Anxiety
- Drug & Alcohol problems (yours or theirs)
- Abuse (emotional, physical, sexual) –
- Violence, bullying or neglect in many forms.
- Bereavement and grief and other forms of acute loss
- Post-Traumatic or Prolonged Stress problems
- Behavioural problems (giving or receiving)
- Being “stuck” in lots of different ways
- Problems without a known cause
- Coming to terms with making a big life decision
