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Release Counselling

Release Counselling

Thank you for visiting Release Counselling.

We offer a professional, friendly and affordable Counselling service and our aim is to offer you an initial appointment within two weeks, whether that be face to face, telephone or video counselling sessions.

This is a chance for us to find a little more about what’s brings you to us at this time, how day to day life is for you at the moment, and what you may want to be different as a result of having counselling. It’s also a chance for you to find out a bit more about Release Counselling and if it’s the right type of support for you at this time.

What is counselling?

Counselling is known as a talking therapy. This means that you have a regular time, day and space to talk about things that may be impacting on your day to day life with a trained professional. These might be recent issues or events, or from longer ago, including from childhood.

Why counselling?

Counselling is helpful as it gives you an opportunity to explore your thoughts and feelings in a confidential and supportive environment. The reasons that people seek counselling will vary on an individual basis. Some of the reasons may include:

Anxiety describes feelings of worry, fear and unease. The intensity of these feelings will differ from person to person, but will often be experienced physically as well as emotionally.

Physically you may notice:

rapid and/or irregular heartbeat, faster breathing, sweating, nausea, dizziness, trouble sleeping, feeling irritable, lack of concentration or experiencing panic attacks

Emotionally, you might find that you are thinking about thinks more, ruminating, unable to go about your day-to-day life in the way that you would like to.

Depression is different from feeling sad. Sadness can normally be linked to a specific event or events that are happening in your life.

Depression can be described when you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days. Sometimes there is a trigger for depression. Life-changing events, such as bereavement, losing your job or even having a baby, can bring it on.

People with a family history of depression are more likely to experience it themselves. You can also become depressed for no obvious reason.

Counselling can support you to understand how depression is effecting you and ways to support you on a day-to-day basis as well as in the future.

You may feel:

  • worthless
  • constantly anxious, tearful and worried
  • like you can’t concentrate
  • irritable and intolerant of others
  • you are not getting enough enjoyment out of life
  • you have a lack of self-esteem
  • you have no motivation or interest in things you used to enjoy

You may experience:

  • changes in sleeping patterns – broken nights or oversleeping
  • changes in eating patterns – loss of appetite or overeating
  • tiredness and a loss of energy
  • persistent headaches and/or stomach upsets

 You may also:

  • isolate yourself from friends and family
  • take part in fewer social activities
  • notice your productivity falling at work

Grief is a natural reaction when someone has passed away. For most of us, grief will be the most distressing experience we will ever face. We are often ill-prepared for how it will impact us in the days, months and years ahead.

There is no right or wrong way to grieve. Grief can impact in all aspects of our lives, and can leave us feeling unable to cope day to day, with the future feeling overwhelming.

There is no right or wrong way to grieve. There are a range of emotions that will vary in intensity for person to person.

These may include:

  • Shock
  • Numbness
  • Anger
  • Sadness
  • Relief
  • Guilt
  • Depression
  • Loneliness
  • Often grief is a time of reflection with significant change and adjustment.

You may notice some or all of the following are affected:

  • Sleep is affected, both getting to sleep and/or staying asleep
  • You may experience nightmares or dreaming about the person who has died.
  • You may find it harder to socialise and be in larger groups. You may notice you find it harder to leave your home.
  • You may feel more anxious and/or panicky
  • It may be harder to concentrate
  • Feel like you are in a bubble

 Physical feelings
As well as the range of emotions experienced when you are grieving, it is not uncommon to notice physical reactions. Again, there is no right or wrong way nor set amount of time this will last, but you may notice:

  • More aches and pains in your body and lack of energy.
  • You may feel more anxious or panicky.

Relationships, whether with family, friends or professionals are central to our lives. However, for a variety for reasons, including conflict, communication and health needs, they can often be complex, challenging and difficult and this can have a significant impact on our day to day lives.

Loss covers many events that happen throughout our lives. These may include:

  • separation or divorce
  • being made redundant
  • living away from family or friends
  • illness/loss of health
  • child(ren) leaving home

Stress comes from a build up of pressure, either from ourselves or from others.  Almost everyone experiences stress from time to time, and while a small amount of stress can motivate us, too much or prolonged stress can be damaging to both our physical and mental health.

There are many things in life that can cause stress, including work, relationships, family issues and financial problems.

There are many different types of abuse. While the more commonly known forms include domestic abuse and violence, emotional, physical and sexual  abuse, any behaviour towards someone that causes deliberate harm or upset can be considered abuse.

Abusive behaviour can have a significant impact on our mental health and well-being, not only at the time of the abuse, but there can be lasting effects throughout a person’s life.

These are some of the reasons you may be interested in counselling, but the list is not exhaustive. If you are interested in affordable counselling for a different reason, do contact us.

Please do get in touch for a friendly chat, by filling out our online registration form, or by phone or email.

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Release Counselling

49 Victoria Road Surbiton KT6 4NG

We offer the following:

 

  • 1:1 Sessions, to individuals over the age of 18.
  • We offer weekly sessions of 50 minutes. We normally offer between 6 weeks and up to a year, this is reviewed regularly and discussed between you and your counsellor.
  • Our counselling services are open to all regardless of age, gender, faith, physical ability or sexual orientation.
  • We offer face to face counselling sessions in South Ealing, Surbiton, Walthamstow and Wimbledon.
  • Remote sessions are also available via telephone or zoom.

As a charity, we aim to keep our fees as low as possible, to be accessible and affordable to all. We offer a sliding scale starting at £25.00 per session up to £55.00. Fees are based on income and discussed with you prior to attending your assessment.

We have a range of sessions available; morning, afternoon and evenings. Monday to Friday.

Release counselling is part of the YMCA St Paul’s Group.

All our Volunteer Counsellors are either fully qualified or in the final stages of their training. All Volunteer Counsellors have undertaken a rigorous interview and induction process. We offer a fully professional service and are members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Release Counselling abides by The BACP Ethical Framework for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

https://bacp.co.uk

 

All personal information shared during counselling is confidential to the service. No information will be disclosed to any other person without prior consent, unless in exceptional circumstances, e.g. legal requirement or harm to self and others.

Please contact your GP

Call NHS 111

Visit the A & E department of your local hospital.

Call Samaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org

For men only –  CALM (campaign against living miserably) 0800 58 58 58

For children and young people

Childline – 0800 11 11

Papyrus – Hopeline UK call 0800 068 4141 – Text 0778 620 9697 – Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org

If you would like further information or to book an assessment please call during our office opening times.

Release Office Opening Times: 9.15am to 2.15pm, Monday to Friday.

Telephone: 0208 339 7336   Email: team.release@ymcaspg.org

or alternatively fill out  the form and we will contact you (If you have any issues with the form please try use Chrome web browser).

Our locations (How to find us)

Private comfortable rooms on the ground floor of YMCA Surbiton

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Comfortable rooms in South Ealing

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Comfortable rooms in Wimbledon, the Broadway.

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Comfortable rooms in YMCA Walthamstow

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Are you about to qualify as a counsellor/therapist?

If so we have an exciting opportunity for you to join our team. We are delighted to announce a year long Volunteer Counsellor placement opportunity at each of our four main sites; Surbiton, Wimbledon, Walthamstow and South Ealing. This is an opportunity for those newly qualified counsellors/therapists to develop your skills to equip you with many of the next level skills required to work in an organisation, or in private practice.
We are not currently recruiting for volunteer counsellors. Please check back in the new year.
If you are interested in applying for one of these positions, please read the person specification and download and fill in the application form below and email to sheridanparsons@ymcaspg.org. Full training and support will be given throughout the year. If you would like an informal chat in the first instance please do get in touch with Sheridan Parsons at sheridanparsons@ymcaspg.org.
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Become a volunteer counsellor

We offer opportunities to student members on Level 4 training or above that are recognised by or affiliated to the BACP to become volunteer counsellors, whilst on placement. Please download the following documents for more information. Currently we are not recruiting but please check back in the new year.

For alternative services to ours, we also recommend the Counselling Directory

Counselling Directory – Find a Counsellor Near You (counselling-directory.org.uk)