Help Outside Of The Counselling Session

Help Outside Of The Counselling Session

Help outside of the counselling session

You’re between sessions, feeling a bit rubbish and not sure where to turn. What are your options?

Employee Assistance Programs

If you work for a medium to large sized corporate company then there may be access to help as part of your benefits package with your employer. These can be internal services provided by HR, an onsite counsellor, or occupational health or a currently popular option is an external provider, often referred to as an EAP or Employee Assistance Program. They provide many services such as legal and financial advice but also counselling services. Your HR department, Manager or company intranet can supply you with a helpline number or website if the company has access to an EAP. The helpline is confidential as is the counselling that you receive

The counselling is usually time-limited in that you will have access to a set number of sessions and these can be face to face or over the telephone, depending on the EAP. The counsellor is likely to make an assessment of your issues/ problems through questionnaires helping you to understand what is going on for you. You will likely work towards a therapy goal (what do you want to achieve) and create a plan of how to get there. Depending on the modality/ specialism of the EAP and Counsellor, you will discuss coping strategies and techniques to get you to your goal.

Charity contact details

Depending on your issue/ problem there are often dedicated helplines for specific areas of mental health concerns. This is straightforward if you know what you are struggling with, as it is a case of searching the internet for an associated helpline. For many people, they are not aware of what is wrong- only that something is very wrong. With the latter in mind here are some helplines that are generic, wholly confidential and may help you take your first step to understanding what is going on for you:

This is not an exhaustive list but it should hopefully be a starting point for you.

Self Help

Our own abilities to help ourselves should not be overlooked. Anyone considering or at the beginning of their counselling journey should be aware that it takes participation, collaboration and effort to start to make changes in your life and to make those changes stick. Self-help in terms of ‘self-care’ is a large part of the change process. Without regular time to yourself to reflect, analyse, have fun or try something new then changes generally take longer to implement and therapy can stagnate. You have to want to change and to want to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable about change. Some of the best moments of therapeutic clarity happen in those times when you are alone reflecting or taking care of yourself or out with friends doing something you enjoy. All my clients will tell you how much I stress self-care! It is so important to take time-out for yourself and make yourself a priority in your own life.