What is Psychotherapy & Counselling?
Our qualified professional psychotherapists, counsellors and coaches are trained to work closely with you to enable you to explore thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behaviours that affect your life negatively. Through counselling and psychotherapy you are given the support and safety to explore, understand and often, to change these thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behaviours.
The personal growth that can then take place can free you from the limitations of old patterns. This can allow more realistic and effective ways of improving the quality, contentment and satisfaction of your life to emerge.
You can benefit from counselling and psychotherapy at any stage in your life. However, it is more usual that you are likely to consider counselling when you are seeking to deal with changes, events or transitions in your life, or when you are facing a personal crisis.
What Can Counselling Or Psychotherapy Treat ?
You can talk to your counsellor or psychotherapist about any issue that is of importance to you. See our services page for the complete range of issues we discuss.
How Do I Begin ?
Simply contact us directly by phone on 01 6612220 or email info@lifechange.ie and you can have a brief chat with us about how therapy works and if it would be appropriate for you. If so, we will try to refer you to the most appropriate therapist to suit your needs. It would be helpful if you could indicate the days and times you are available. We will attempt to match your requirements as much as possible but please bear in mind that this is subject to availability. We have therapists working 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 6pm on Saturday.
How Many Sessions Will I Need ?
There really is no single answer to this as it will depend on what issues you are experiencing. During your first session you can discuss this with your counsellor or psychotherapist and you can either leave it open-ended or decide to fix on a number of sessions. Often it is agreed to work together for about 6 sessions and then review whether to continue further.
How Long Does A Session Last ?
The length of a session varies slightly, but is between 50 and 60 minutes long, depending on which therapist you attend.
How Much Does A Session Cost ?
The cost per session depends on which counsellor or psychotherapist you attend, but it ranges from €75 – €90 for individual therapy and €100-€120 for couples therapy. Discounts may apply for students or anyone who is unemployed. Low cost counselling may also be possible subject to the availability of our trainee therapists.
How Often Will I Attend A Counsellor or Psychotherapist ?
Generally speaking, sessions are held on a weekly basis. This allows the relationship between the therapist and client to develop better as the therapy is regular and consistent. The client can also get a faster and deeper understanding of their experiences. In some cases they may take place on a fortnightly basis by agreement with your therapist.
Is There A Difference Between Counselling And Psychotherapy ?
This causes a lot of confusion for clients and that is mainly because counselling and psychotherapy can often describe a similar experience. Broadly speaking, counselling is often used to describe where a client is working on a particular issue that is currently happening in their life and may be for a shorter period of time. Psychotherapy is often used to describe where clients work on issues that often relate to events that may originate in their past but are also affecting the person in their life now, and so can require deeper explorations. In reality, it is often hard to distinguish between the two approaches and all of our therapists are trained to work according to what the client needs and wants.
Is Therapy Completely Confidential ?
Counselling and psychotherapy is a totally confidential service in almost all situations. However it is important to point out that in certain circumstances ethical and legal obligations must be considered, such as the Child Protection Act (protecting the rights and welfare of children and minors). The therapist will fully explain confidentiality to you in the first session.
What Happens If I Need to Cancel a Session ?
In the event of the need to cancel a session our therapists require 48 hours notice. If you are unable to cancel with less than the agreed period of notice you will be asked to pay a cancellation fee for the missed session which will be agreed upon at your first session with your counsellor or psychotherapist.
Is My Counsellor or Psychotherapist Properly Qualified ?
All of our counsellors and psychotherapists have completed a full professional training and are associates or accredited members of the main professional associations, mainly the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP), the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP), or the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI).