Individual Counselling
Individual counselling in Stratford, Ontario and surrounding area
What is Individual Counselling?
Individual counselling is a clinical practice that involves one-on-one interaction between a client and therapist.
Clients can seek individual counselling for a range of personal concerns which include:
Therapy can feel scary, especially if you’re new to it. You aren’t alone. Let us walk you through the process of individual counselling and how it can be beneficial for you.
What To Expect During Individual Counselling
Individual counselling sessions are 50 minutes in duration and the frequency can vary depending on the need of the client.
Your counsellor will spend the first session collecting important demographic and contact information. They will also talk about ensuring complete confidentiality, and its limits (for example, when there’s a danger of harm to yourself or others).
You may also be asked your reasons for seeking therapy and what you hope to gain from it.
The therapist usually devotes the first few sessions to understanding your main concerns. That’s why therapy is a slow and gradual process that requires patience.
It can bring up a lot of difficult emotions, but that’s okay. That just means it’s working.
You may also be given ‘homework’ from time to time in which you can be asked to reflect, and apply the concepts learned in counselling. This is the counsellor’s way of checking your progress.
Benefits of Individual Counselling
Individual counselling has proven to be highly effective in improving people’s confidence, quality of life, and ability to deal with problems. Here are some of its most powerful outcomes:
Increased self-awareness
Individual counselling can help you connect with your thoughts and feelings. It helps you identify and change negative thought patterns.
By being more self-aware, you can pause, reflect, and learn to act in ways consistent with healthy growth.
Higher self-esteem
People may also seek therapy because they feel helpless and unable to change their situation. This can harshly impact the way they perceive themselves, leading to negative self-talk and loss of confidence.
Individual counselling can help people regain their sense of control by giving them hope. This can greatly improve self-esteem.
Healthy coping skills
During counselling, most people find that they’re stuck in a cycle of unhealthy behaviors which are contributing to their problems. Therapy can help people identify these behaviors and replace them with healthy coping skills.
Examples of such coping skills include anger management, self-soothing, and relaxation techniques.
Discovery of fresh perspectives
Sometimes, the way we think about a problem is enough to make it worse or better. Individual counselling can help you discover new ways of looking at and dealing with your problems.
People are usually unaware that alternate perspectives exist, but counselling can help bring them to light.
Self-growth
One of the best outcomes of therapy is the self-growth that accompanies the recovery process. People learn new strategies and ways of thinking that help them in the long run.
By replacing unhealthy patterns with better, healthy ones, people can pave the way for self-growth.
Acceptance
Individual counselling can help people dealing with grief and loss to develop acceptance of the things they can’t change.
People are often unable to come to terms with an outcome that goes against their hopes. Therapy can gradually help them learn how.
Hope
Loss of hope is easily one of the most painful experiences for anyone. It might seem like there’s no end to the heavy burden you’re carrying.
Individual counselling can help you find hope again. Recovery can empower you and help you learn that there’s always a way out.
Reach Out To Us
Located at 206 Ontario Street, Stratford, Ontario and also in the beautiful Orchard Treatment & Wellness Center at 4012 Perth Rd #107, Shakespeare Ontario. We are local to Stratford, St. Marys, Tavistock and New Hamburg. Our clinicians also offer remote therapy across Ontario so that you can access the support you need - no matter where you are!
Using evidence-based therapeutic approaches, our experienced counsellors can help you begin to reclaim your well-being, so that you can rise above whatever is holding you back, and enjoy your life the way you were always meant to.
To get started you can fill out a contact form, call (226) 215-4244, or book an appointment online with one of our counsellors by clicking below.
We’re looking forward to supporting you!