About Oak Park Counselling

 Depression, fear, and anxiety are some of the most common and uncomfortable emotions that we can experience at some point in our lives. Through counselling, we are able to help you recover motivation, perspective, and joy that you once had in your life.  

 Many individuals can experience symptoms associated with painful and traumatic circumstances. Anxiety, fear, and hopelessness are a few emotions that can linger post traumatic events. We can help you overcome these symptoms and guide you through the process of grief and healing.  

Relationship counselling can be beneficial to couples who are looking to strengthen their emotional connection, in all stages of their relationship. Therapy sessions are held with both couples and is a supportive place to discuss issues and solutions to better strengthen your relationship.   

Addiction can present in many ways and have life changing events for many people, when it is out of their control. Counselling can offer support to clients experiencing addiction related issues in a safe, supportive and non-judgemental environment. 

It can be very distressing, keeping how you feel to yourself.  It may be that a lack of support, information or fear of judgement or discrimination, has left you living a life where you are unhappy and unable to be yourself. 

Gender dysphoria is not a mental illness, however, people who experience gender dysphoria often suffer great stress as a result of hiding their identity. This is why it is so important that we speak about these issues. Counselling provides a place of safety and support, after all nobody should feel they have to keep quiet about who they are.

Unfortunately, at some point or another, we will all lose someone that we love and care about. Counselling offers support to clients experiencing loss, including loss of a pet, in an environment that is empathic and safe.  I also offer support for terminally ill people and their families. Having trained with Aintree hospice, I have developed ways in which terminally ill clients and their families can make memories that will last a life time . I have extensive experience supporting bereaved clients and feel confident in my approach to supporting those bereaved either recently or several years prior. I also work with loss of self-esteem and any other loss such as loss of employment or loss of home.    

Exposure therapy is a technique in behaviour therapy to treat anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy involves exposing the target client to the anxiety source or its context without the intention to cause any danger. Doing so is thought to help them overcome their anxiety or distress.

 The Rewind Technique, also known as the Fast Phobia Cure and Visual-Kinaesthetic Dissociation (VKD), since 2001 Is reported to be to be a highly effective treatment for Post traumatic stress disorder and other post-trauma symptoms. Clients are said to get markedly better after just a few sessions with some making a dramatic improvement after just one session.  Please watch this video for more information on the Rewind technique.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTaY9jC1TEU 

Relaxation scripts are a fantastic way to reconnect with your organismic self and connect your body and mind as one.  I offer assistance in mindful eating, mindful activities and general tips on how best to relax and unwind after a hectic day. These sessions are great for people who want to learn to relax more and connect with themselves. 

 Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psycho-social intervention that aims to improve mental health. CBT focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions and behaviors, improving emotional regulation, and the development of personal coping strategies that target solving current problems 

 Solution-focused therapy is a goal-directed collaborative approach to psycho therapeutic change that is conducted through direct observation of clients' responses to a series of precisely constructed questions.  This approach is ideal for clients who  are preferring to have short term therapy. 

Creative therapy uses images - in art, clay, sound, sand, or just the images inside your own head to help the therapist understand your inner world and experience. Some sessions may be spent talking and listening and whether to use the art media is always a free choice.  These sessions are ideal for people who may not know where to start or struggle  to talk about their emotions. By using creativity in therapy,  the mind will relax, thus allowing for the unconscious part of the mind to engage in therapy.