Being a counsellor is easy money isn't it?

[Happyfriday]

What do they actually do for their £40-50 an hour?

I have had three short blocks of counselling in recent years. The first one looked shocked, the second one agreed with everything I said and the third one wanted to laugh everything off and then apologised for it.

How do you know what you need? I'm not sure if I should be looking for a certain type of counselling or give it more time.

When people say they are in therapy what do they mean?

Results in one or two sessions? Is this evidence based with long lasting results?

Well it's not in the NICE guidelines so I'm guessing not.

Psychoanalytic training is at least 6 years long but I'm pretty sure the NHS hasn't funded it for yonks?

I assure you it has and does.

I'm also a bit at it being a pseudoscience. Neuroscience is now confirming what psychotherapists have known for years.

I wonder what Rogers would have thought to being told he wasn't a psychotherapist because he wasn't an interventionist...

Sorry, WhySoAngry, but your posts haven't convinced me otherwise and I think could be setting some people up to fail. It's great that you can treat phobias etc quickly but trauma? shame? deep rooted relational difficulties? In a session or two?

Should I be asking my nhs person what her qualifications are then?

Her office says 'clinical psychology' but she was introduced to me by a more senior member of staff as a 'student'.

Tbh I think the best thing that could come from the experience is if I can get a formal diagnosis of hfa/aspergers. It's not why I'm there but imo that's at the root of why I have the problems she is trying to address. I've been dropping some buzz words into the conversation but she doesn't seem to be picking up on them. I just don't have the confidence/communication skills to say it out straight.

Am I wasting both of our time?

A trainee clin psych won't b able to dx you Athenaviolent. You need to see a fully qualified clin psych who has special training in this area. Best place to start is probably GP.

OP, I feel the same way as you about value for money. Maybe £40 isn't a lot to a counsellor, but it is to me. Therefore, since I can't claim the money back if the counselling fails, I expect them to be good at their job. The same goes for any other kind of doctor I see.

I saw a counsellor for just half an hour after an attempted suicide when I was 13. He basically said I did it for no reason and that I must have plenty of friends because everybody does. Useful.

I saw one twice after starting AD's and he was easy to get along with, but he didn't offer me anything other than an ear. I never felt he was waiting to finish the session, but I do know he was very excited when my pills started working and I didn't have to see him any more. I was fixed, because pills worked and I'm still on them now. I'm not so sure being on pills for the rest of my life is a fix...

I saw one three times when my life was in a mess after moving to Sweden and the upshot of what he said was 'move back to England' which I suppose is good enough advice if all my problems were about how much I hated Sweden, but I am not in a position to move back and so I'm still the same, minus a counsellor as he couldn't help any further without enlisting the help of my ex partner who isn't interested.

So, all in all, I don't feel I've met anyone who can help me and I'm having more frequent suicidal thoughts now after years of having none at all. Awesome.

Anyway, the profession is let down by people such as those I have come across but unless you're made of money you're stuck with the few that are available in the local practices. In my area, that's just one guy.

Don't agree that you should look for solution-focused brief therapy. People going into therapy often don't know what the real issues are.

Also, I agree about the shoddy counselling v therapy explanation up-thread. It's just not correct that therapists are interventionist and counsellors aren't.

A UKCP-accredited psychotherapist will have had a four-year experiential training, whereas a BACP-accredited counsellor may only have had two years' training. Many people use the two terms interchangeably. I think a key difference is that psychotherapists actually help you reorganise your personality / aspects of your self.

Training
Professional fees
Ongoing training fees
Insurance
Rent/room hire
Receptionist/booker
Advertising/listing
Marketing materials/website
Tea, coffee, biscuits and tissues
Tax

All adds up. Very few will be in a position where they are seeing lots of clients each day, so the fees get gobbled up quickly.

I'd rather be a tennis coach, at £40 p/h (as they charge around here).

The terms can be used interchangeably, that's why. It's not the accrediting body that makes the difference, I don't even think it's the training sometimes. Counsellors can also help you reorganise your personality or address deep seated issues. It's not the name that makes the difference. Some clients prefer a counsellor as they imagine somehow that means their issues are less serious. Some clients prefer someone who calls themselves a psychotherapist as they hope that means the practitioner will be an "expert" when it's more accurate that the "expert" is the client.

There are lots of ways to work. The thing with counselling/psychotherapy is that it's the relationship that is the thing that's going to make a difference. If it's not right, it won't work. If you hide things, the counsellor isn't magic and these things may get missed. If the counsellor is doing something you don't like or find unhelpful, the counsellor may not know unless you tell them. There will be times where the counsellor picks up on things but that doesn't mean they should always pick on things a client conceals or withholds. You have to engage with therapy. If you choose not to engage then the "results" will reflect that. If you went to a doctor and said "I've got a sore throat", you wouldn't expect them to also diagnose a sprained foot.

I have had 2 very very good ones

I feel bad that you have been let down to be honest 3/3 is really shitty luck

I'm a trainee play therapist (which has its basis in psychotherapy) and have to have 1 hour of supervision for every 6 hours of therapy I provide. That's self funded as well, so it's bloody expensive, however I think it's the only truly ethical way to practice.

The trouble is the bad ones not only give counselling a bad name, they can also do a lot of damage.

It's not that they were 'bad' counsellors but that I couldn't see what they were actually doing.

I feel I was very open, honest and engaged with the process as each time I felt I was ready. I had couples counselling (now divorced haha,) employee counselling (now redundant lol) and recently individual counselling which I was really looking forward to.

In a way I am a bit more confused now than before I started the thread