Joyce Breasure, past president of the American Counseling Association and a professional counselor who has been in private practice for more than 20 years, recommends counseling when you:

• Spend 5 out of 7 days feeling unhappy
• Regularly cannot sleep at night
• Are taking care of a parent or a child and the idea crosses your mind that you may want to hit that person
• Place an elder in a nursing home or in alternative care
• Have lost someone or something (such as a job)
• Have a chronic or acute medical illness
• Can no longer prioritize what is most important in your life
• Feel that you can no longer manage your stress

The American Counseling Association states that 'professional counselors offer help in addressing many situations that cause emotional stress, including, but not limited to:

• anxiety, depression, and other mental and emotional problems and disorders
• family and relationship issues
• substance abuse and other addictions
• sexual abuse and domestic violence
• eating disorders
• career change and job stress
• social and emotional difficulties related to disability and illness
• adopting to life transitions
• the death of a loved one'

The following questions can also be helpful in determining if you should seek counselling -

1. Are you currently in a crisis situation?
2. Are you currently feeling distress?
3. Are you having trouble dealing with certain emotions or your current situation?
4. Do you need help to find or access the right services to assist you?
5. Do you want to participate in counselling?

If you are in any doubt about whether you should attending counselling you are welcome to Contact Us and speak to one of our counsellor's or altenatively you can contact your GP for further information.

What is counselling?

Counselling is a form of ‘talk therapy’. It is a process by which an individual, couple or family meet with a counsellor to talk about issues and problems that they are facing in their lives. Professional counselling is confidential and non-judgmental.

Counselling can provide people with the opportunity to share their views, be heard and gain new perspectives on their situation and experiences. Counselling can help people to gain clarity surrounding issues. Together with their counsellor people identify and work towards achieving the desired outcomes and goals for counselling.

How can counselling help me?

Counselling is used to deal with a broad range of issues and problems that you may be facing. Counselling can help you to deal with stress, anxiety and depression. It can provide you with the opportunity to reassess or set new goals in your life and help you to gain clarity and direction. Counselling can be used to address issues and problems within your relationship or provide mediation between you and your partner. Often people will engage in counselling when a crisis has occurred in their lives. Counsellors often specialise in different areas.

Finding a counsellor

When searching for an appropriate counselling service, don’t be afraid to ask the counsellor questions. You may like to ask the counsellor if they have a particular area of expertise (such as marriage counselling or grief and loss), what each session will cost and the amount of sessions that may be required to achieve your goals for counselling.

To ensure that you will receive a professional counselling service, ask your counsellor if they are member of one of the peak professional bodies of counselling in Australia, such as the Australian Counselling Association and if they adhere to a Professional Code of Conduct.

What happens in my first counselling session with Vision Counselling?

In your first counselling session you will be introduced to your counsellor. Your counsellor will give you a consent form to sign which will explain the limits surrounding the confidentiality of your sessions. You will also be given a Australian Counselling Association Charter Form which will explain what you can expect from our service, you will then have the opportunity to ask any questions that you may have.

Together with the counsellor you may then talk about why it is you have come to counselling. During the session you will set some goals for your counselling sessions, so it may be worth thinking about what you would like to achieve from counselling and how you would like to feel at the end of it.

Sometimes we may refer you to another speciality service or organisation that can assist you with a specific issue or problem. This is our duty of care to ensure that our clients receive the best possible service.

At the end of your session you may discuss with your counsellor how many sessions may be required to reach your goals for counselling and together with your counsellor you will book your next session. The counsellor may also give you homework tasks to complete in between your sessions. You will then be given an invoice for the session which is payable upon receipt. 

It is important to remember that these counselling sessions are especially for you. We always endeavour to create a non-judgmental environment that allows you to identify and talk about the issues that you need to work through and we will strive to reach your desired goals for counselling.

A qualified counsellor is ready to help you move forward in your life, improve your mental health and help you to discover new ways to feel the best that you can.