Covid-19: Due to the unprecedented events the country is currently experiencing, our counsellors are now offering phone and online therapy. Please contact us to see if we can help.
Counselling and Psychotherapy based in Hook, Hampshire
Welcome to Hart Counselling CIC.
Our therapists offer face to face psychotherapy and counselling to adults and young people aged over 11yrs.
We believe you should have control over how long you wish to come to therapy and for this reason, we offer open-ended counselling. This means that, with your counsellor, you can agree to work together for as long as you feel necessary.
As a guide, we suggest a minimum of six sessions as it can take this amount of time to settle into the process.
Each counsellor and psychotherapist is a qualified and insured member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Hart Counselling CIC therapists are often able to see you for your initial consultation within a week from your first contact.
What is counselling and how can it help?
It can be someone to listen to you, without judgement who has professional training and experience to understand the issues you struggle with.
It is somewhere to help you understand life’s difficulties, be supported through challenges and work together towards change. We provide a space to process feelings such as; sadness, fear, guilt, anger, shame, all of which can help you understand past or present experiences.
Our location allows us to work with clients from Basingstoke, Fleet, Farnborough and surrounding areas.
Do any of the following examples resonate with you?
Finding yourself going around in circles with the same thoughts, with no resolution in sight?
Sharing your concerns with the same friends/family members but feeling like you’re getting nowhere?
Struggling with intrusive thoughts or unhelpful behaviour patterns?
Feel angry or fearful and struggling to keep these feelings inside?
Worrying that others might be judging you?
Feeling like a burden to others?
Not fitting in and feeling lonely?
Feeling like nobody truly understands what you are going through?
Making the decision to seek out counselling can feel like a daunting prospect.
There is no need to have a formal diagnosis to seek support as each counsellor will work with you to better understand your needs.
We understand it can be difficult to reach out when you seem 'locked in' and alone with your thoughts.
You might be feeling you should have the necessary tools to cope on your own. It is often difficult to put yourself first when you feel confused and cannot see how talking to another person might help.
Perhaps you have been thinking about counselling for a while but are not sure what it really involves. You are asking yourself how can it benefit me?
Please visit our FAQ'S and Links page or Contact us to answer any questions you have.
Some of the difficulties seeing a counsellor in Hook can support:
- Anger
Concerned that “if one more thing happens, I'm going to lose it?”
Thinking “I have been disrespected, treated unfairly or used?”
Feeling overwhelmed and behaving defensively?
Worrying about lashing out at loved ones?
There are many ways people can describe their anger such as; exploding, boiling over, imploding, out of control and seeing red. Experiencing a one-off incident, or finding yourself angry on a regular basis can feel out of your control. Counselling can help you to understand your triggers and any underlying emotions that your anger may be hiding. - Anxiety
Anxiety can be described as being worried, afraid or tense. However, this is a very simple description for what can feel incredibly overwhelming, both emotionally and physically. Anxiety can be linked with having feelings of depression.
It can mean not wanting to leaving the house, engage with others and enjoy new experiences. These can prove stressful and in some cases feel impossible to overcome. That initial worry can grow and morph into a scared feeling resulting in a panicked physical reaction. Although taking the first step in finding someone and making contact may seem daunting, our counsellors are here to support you through this. - Bereavement
Bereavement covers many types of loss.
Death is one of the biggest changes we have to cope with and can be a very complicated and distressing process to endure. The loved ones you would usually lean on may be the ones you have lost or they may be experiencing their own distress. This could leave you feeling like you have no one to turn to.
- Confidence/Self-esteem
Being confident and having high self-esteem are often discussed in the media as ‘normal’ ways of being. However, feeling good about yourself, your decisions or navigating social situations or relationships can be difficult or complex.
Do you find yourself saying things like: “I am so stupid,” “It’s my fault,” “I am a failure” or replaying experiences looking for things you would do differently?
The words confidence and self- esteem might not be the right description but perhaps you struggle to see yourself in a positive way, replay conversations judging how you might have been seen or heard, or find yourself unable to show your full self to others. Counselling with a therapist can support you to grow positive feelings towards yourself and help you to show these to others.
- Depression
Depression can be considered as a persistent feeling of severe sadness or low mood. The length of which this occurs can vary. Seeking help with this is not a weakness. Your counsellor will support you in how you experience depression during this difficult time.
Symptoms can include:
Difficulty in starting or completing day to day activities.
Feeling you have an invisible weight holding you down and exhausting you.
Hopelessness, tearfulness or emptiness.
Poor sleep patterns.
Angry outbursts.
Difficulty with clear thinking or planning.
Changes to your usual eating or exercising habits.
A sensation of wading through treacle.
Unexplained physical symptoms.
Depression can also be linked with suffering from anxiety.
You do not need to feel like you are just existing and not living.
- Lack of meaning
Are you feeling “What’s the point?” Are you unsure of your purpose and feeling lost?
Do you find it hard to get up and get the things you want done?
Can dark thoughts intrude and distract you from enjoying life?
Is loneliness something you feel, perhaps even when around others? Could our therapists help you to find meaning and purpose? - Loss
Loss may be the death of a person, however it can also be a major life event. For example, the loss of a family pet, career change or divorce. Feeling a hole has opened up in your life, and trying to make sense of your present or a new, different future can be daunting on your own. - Family life
Being part of a family unit can be challenging in many ways. Attachments can prove fraught with complicated communication, both verbally and behaviourally. Our first relationships with parents and carers can have lifelong impacts and parenting itself can be a very difficult process for the adults and children involved. Counselling can be a helpful environment to make sense of your past or current relationships and explore your wishes for future partnerships.
- Feeling stuck
Are you feeling a burden to friends/family and becoming irritated as they are offering you advice which you can’t put it into action? Are you repeating unhealthy/unhelpful patterns in work, friendships or relationships? Experiencing a sense of Deja vu? We can help you to understand these patterns and make changes where you wish?
- Stress
“I feel stressed” is something people often say, however severe stress can have physical and emotional impacts, both in the short and long term. Recognising you are feeling this way and choosing to act on it, is the first step in understanding its causes thereby enabling you to find better ways to improve your stress levels.
Are you thinking how stressed do I have to be before I come to counselling? The answer is whenever you feel you want to. If your feelings are impacting on your enjoyment of life, affecting relationships or work, then counselling can give you the dedicated time and space to explore this at your own pace in a calm environment with someone who is dedicated to listen. - Who am I?
Are you trying to understand and make sense of your identity and how to share this with others?
Not feeling your true self or hiding who you really feel you are or could be?
Trying to please everyone else by pushing down emotions and feeling exhausted?
Not being able to get over something that has happened to you and not sure of the reason why? - Young people
In addition to many of the above issues, going through adolescent years and into adulthood is hard enough in itself. Understanding yourself, your relationships with parents/carers, friends and intimate partners can feel overwhelming at times. Do you feel the people around you don’t understand or know what to say? Counselling gives you space, in a trusting relationship to make sense of what can feel a very difficult time in your life.
Please contact the therapists at Hart Counselling CIC to see if we can help you.
Counselling and psychotherapy for clients from Hook, Basingstoke, Odiham, Camberley, Farnham, Fleet, Farnborough, Rotherwick and surrounding areas.
The CIC in our name designates our business as a social enterprise, more specifically a Community Interest Company. This is because our aims are to benefit people rather than creating profits.
Counselling and Psychotherapy in Hart, Hampshire, based in Hook.
Contact us to arrange your initial consultation with a counsellor.