Confidential Psychotherapy & Counselling
Personal therapy gives you a chance to explore your issues confidentially, starting from where you are in your life.
A skilled therapist can help clarify the paths you are choosing, the conflicts that are holding you back and the strengths you can develop and build on to make things better.
Email info@southeastlondoncounselling.org.uk or phone 020 8473 6931 or 020 7967 8858.
All emails and telephone contacts, including phone messages, are dealt with individually, receive a prompt response and are held in strictest confidence.
Most people come to counselling at a time of crisis. This could be due to an event such as a death or the breakup of a relationship. It may be intense feelings, anxiety or depression for example, or behaviour like loss of temper or drinking, that have got out of control. The therapist will listen and try to understand you and your situation, as well as the crisis itself.
But don't wait for a crisis before getting help.
We can help with:
- emotional problems
- low self-esteem
- relationships
- difficulties at work
- bereavement
- alcohol
- sexual problems
- anxiety or stress
- panic attacks
- obsessions & compulsions
- depression
- drugs
If life seems pointless or you suffer from a general lack of energy or feelings of emptiness, dissatisfaction or unhappiness, you can be helped.
When SELC was started in 1992 the word counselling was used as a general term for offering help at a personal level without any medical assumptions of illness or treatment. Its aim was to help people improve the quality of their lives: to help people deal with life events like injury or loss, specific psychological problems (like phobias or panic attacks) or more general unhappiness or dissatisfaction.
Since then those of us from the original core of the organisation have carried on developing through our practices and we have added new associates with a wide range of psychotherapy qualifications.
We are required to be in regular supervision with someone qualified and experienced so that our learning carries on beyond our training. We have all been in therapy ourselves and most of us carry on studying, attending lectures and workshops or further training. In addition, SELC members meet regularly for talks and discussions.
We have members who are experienced at working with couples, families, children and groups as well as individuals. We also offer staff counselling to organisations and supervision to other professionals in the field.
Our members are highly experienced and all belong to a recognised psychotherapy or counselling association, agreeing to be bound by the code of ethics and standards of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Your first meeting with a SELC therapist will be to assess your needs and allow us to identify a suitable course of treatment. Usually this continues with the same therapist but sometimes discussion in the interview leads to the recommendation of a different therapist from our group. Whoever you see you will pay their fee directly to them.
Whatever brings you to seek help, the therapist will start by trying to understand you and the situation you are in. You will be talking about things that are troubling you and that you may be ashamed of. You may also feel at loss about where to begin and what's important to tell.
On the other side, we, as therapists won't mind where you start and will appreciate the awkwardness of the situation. We have had our own therapy and know that, whatever anyone says, however it seems to be from the outside, however we believe it ought to be, life is generally not straightforward and easy. So we want to give you the opportunity to talk about things in your own way, to see what's difficult and what's important to you. It's the beginning of a process of working together to get to the heart of your concerns and find the things that will really help.
Therapy has the goal of helping us face the realities of our lives and we often prefer to be comfortable in the short term rather than bettering ourselves. Many people feel worse before they start to feel better, but when therapy is good it goes on working for us even after it's finished.
The initial interview has a fixed cost of £50 for individuals. £60 for couples and families.
Our therapists set their own fees for ongoing sessions: usually from £50 upwards.
We are all self-employed so concessions are limited but can sometimes be negotiated depending on circumstances.
Sessions generally last 50 minutes and take place at weekly intervals. Depending on the issues a long term commitment may not be needed; short-term therapy can be very successful.
We aim to offer valuable, life-changing therapy for affordable fees.
Because we know that private therapy cannot generally be afforded by people on benefits and low incomes we have included a list (and contact details) of organisations offering low cost therapy.
You should note that many of them will have changed their working practices, and may be unavailable, because of the Coronavirus Crisis.