Psychotherapist, counsellor, psychologist, coach – who’s going to help you

You’re not going to need to know whether to do a search for ‘psychotherapist Aberdeen’, ‘counsellor Aberdeen’ or ‘life coach Aberdeen’ unless you’re in the difficult position of having an emotional or mental health challenge or (less difficult) living in or around the Aberdeenshire area. But how do you know who to search for? What’s the difference to you in engaging a psychotherapist, a psychologist or a psychiatrist – it’s important that you know!

There’s no doubt about the fact that the choices involved in successfully navigating 60-100 years of a lifetime have increase. With the increase in choices comes an exponential increase in the complexity of finding a mix that works exactly right for you. Most people – from teenage years to retirement – will at some point find that range of decisions overwhelming, to a point where they require professional help to guide and to simplify.

So which professionals know what about what? And who’s going to make the difference to your specific situation right now? Here’s a simple guide:

 Psychotherapist
This title can usually be inter-changed with therapist or with counsellor. It’s often used to intimate a longer term, or wider range of therapeutic study – however you can’t immediately assume that that makes a psychotherapist a better choice for your support and recovery process. There are different styles of therapeutic conversation offered by psychotherapists, therapists and counsellors and the best way to find out who’s best for you to work with is: read their website, look at their testimonials and, most importantly, talk to the therapist before you decide whether to work with him/her. You’ll get a sense very quickly about whether you have a shared chemistry, and they have the skills, that are going to help you to your chosen outcome. Trust your instinct.

 As a general rule you could search for a psychotherapist to help with: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, overwhelm, post traumatic stress, an eating disorder, addiction or a phobia

 Counsellor
See above. Also, it’s important not to assume a counsellor is less skilled than a psychotherapist. Some highly skilled therapists choose to call themselves counsellors because it has a more approachable sound. Some counsellors are extraordinarily skilled, intuitive and experienced. Again, contact the professional who’s site or profile reads well to you and have a first conversation about the outcomes you’d like to see from working with them.

 Search for a counsellor to equip you with: strong relationships, successful marriage, quality parenting, healthy divorce, career change, wholesome bereavement and balanced retirement

Life Coach
There are again huge crossovers in the skills a life coach is equipped with when compared to therapists. The angle from a coach is often said to me more future and solutions focussed than with therapy which has a present and issues slant. However, a modern, up-to-date therapy, like Human Givens Psychotherapy, is as fast, effective and uplifting a conversation as you’ll get with most good life coaches.

 Search for a life coach to: show up in a bigger way at work and in relationships, address limiting beliefs around your skills and abilities, add meaning to ambition.

Psychologist
A psychologist has a psychology degree at bachelors, masters or doctorate level. They are social scientists trained to study human behaviour and mental processes. They are not usually medically qualified and only a small proportion of psychologist will go on to work with patients/clients. Some will continue in research and some into education, mental health and occupational psychology.

Psychiatrist
Psychiatrists are medical doctors who have specialised in the study of mental disorders and their diagnosis, management and prevention. They may be additionally trained in psychotherapy (although that’s not yet commonplace) and they can prescribe medication to treat symptoms, which a therapist, counsellor or psychologist can’t.

So whoever you choose should you be in the north of Scotland – psychotherapist, counsellor or life coach – the encouraging point to take from this is that although there are more life choices (a good thing) creating more diverse individuals (another good thing), should you find that all a bit overwhelming at any point, there are also more professional navigators to help you get clear and move forward with simplicity.

About Author:
 Jennifer Broadley is the founder of www.HealthyChat.co.uk Since 2012 she has worked full time delivering therapeutic, life-changing conversations from her private practices in Aberdeen, Dundee and the north of Scotland. She additionally works with UK clients by phone and European clients by skype. In 2002 Jennifer set up an executive coaching company supporting the continued high performance of business leaders and entrepreneurs working for medium and large companies – she is still active in this sector through www.JenniferBroadley.com

Jennifer was brought up in West Africa, educated in Scotland and lived and worked in Hong Kong, Australia and Indonesia before returning to a London base in 1997. She and her daughter now live on the UK's east coast, where she continues to coach and write. Jennifer is a writer and a published author. Her first book 'The 7 Steps to Personal & Professional Freedom', is available on www.Amazon.co.uk For therapy or executive coaching enquiries please email, message or call Jennifer via her websites.

How ‘therapy ready’ are you?

I have an extraordinary range of people who seek me out each month men, women, teenagers, children anyone who wants real results quickly from a psychotherapist in Dundee, a counselor in Aberdeen or a therapist in North of Scotland. When the email or phone call comes in and I see or hear the phrase I want I breathe a sign of relief.

I know these people are ‘therapy ready’.

The contrast is when I read my husband needs or my daughter has this or ‘my mother wants to these are all first pointers to me that the person contacting me might be struggling in a relationship -friendship, family, partner or colleague and their solution is to seek help to have that person change. It makes sense at first glance - you make me uncomfortable so I want you to change. However a more conscious person might say - I`m allowing this discomfort to exist in my life, how can I equip myself to influence a change.

Therapy ready clients have got to a place in their life where they`ve personally lived with their challenge for long enough. These guys are on a mission. They might be experiencing depression, anxiety, unsatisfying (or abusive) relationships, trauma, eating disorders or panic attacks. Sometimes they`ve tried to reason out a solution themselves and some have made practical changes with varying degrees of success. A client may come to me specifically to receive Human Givens therapy having tried other therapies, or having spoken to their GP and have been on medication for months or even years.Whatever the case, therapy ready clients are hungry for change.

I had a delightful man in his 50s come to me some years ago who wanted a result with an eating disorder he had been battling with for years. He`d tried to increase what he was able to eat but in fact hisdiet was relatively limited, to a point where it impacted business lunches, mealtimes with his family and his general physical health and self esteem. He was fed up, on a mission and definitely therapy ready. So ready in fact, that his process took just two sessions a month apart.

Within weeks he had a massive mindset shift about food and changed his relationship with it entirely - almost nothing was outside his comfort zone to try. Two sessions! That’s not hugely unusual from a timings perspective when a therapy ready person combines their drive with an modern, practical therapy like Human Givens (some people can take a little longer to get their result, 3 perhaps 4 sessions, some up to 6 sessions more than that is rare).

Mindset and motivation is everything. When the thought of living one more month (or one more day) with a mental or emotional debility is more uncomfortable than taking action and goggling ‘therapist in Aberdeen or wherever you know you’re in a category of client that a Human Givens therapists like me is going to love to see and would be honored to work with.

About Author:

Jennifer Broadley is the founder of www.HealthyChat.co.uk. Since 2012 she has worked full time delivering therapeutic, life-changing conversations from her private practices in Aberdeen, Dundee and the north of Scotland. She additionally works with UK clients by phone and European clients by skype. In 2002 Jennifer set up an executive coaching company supporting the continued high performance of business leaders and entrepreneurs working for medium and large companies  she is still active in this sector through www.JenniferBroadley.com

I have an extraordinary range of people who seek me out each month; men, women, teenagers, children – anyone who wants real results quickly from a psychotherapist in Dundee, a counsellor in Aberdeen or a therapist in North of Scotland. When the email or phone call comes in and I see or hear the phrase ‘I want …’ I breath a sign of relief.

I know these people are ‘therapy ready’.

The contrast is when I read:  ‘my husband needs …’, or ‘my daughter has this …’, or ‘my mother wants to …’  - these are all first pointers to me that the person contacting me might be struggling in a relationship – friendship, family, partner or colleague – and their solution is to seek help to have that person change. It makes sense at first glance –  you make me uncomfortable so I want you to change. However a more conscious person might say - I’m allowing this discomfort to exist in my life, how can I equip myself to influence a change.

Therapy ready clients have got to a place in their life where they’ve personally lived with their challenge for long enough. These guys are on a mission.  They might be experiencing depression, anxiety, unsatisfying (or abusive) relationships, trauma, eating disorders or panic attacks. Sometimes they’ve tried to reason out a solution themselves and some have made practical changes with varying degrees of success. A client may come to me specifically to receive Human Givens therapy having tried other therapies, or having spoken to their GP and have been on medication for months or even years. Whatever the case, therapy ready clients are hungry for change.

I had a delightful man in his 50s come to me some years ago who wanted a result with an eating disorder he had been battling with for years. He’d tried to increase what he was able to eat but in fact his diet was relatively limited, to a point where it impacted business lunches, mealtimes with his family and his general physical health and self esteem. He was fed up, on a mission and definitely therapy ready. So ready in fact, that his process took just two sessions – a month apart.

Within weeks he had a massive mindset shift about food and changed his relationship with it entirely – almost nothing was outside his comfort zone to try. Two sessions! That’s not hugely unusual from a timings perspective  when a therapy ready person combines their drive with an modern, practical therapy like Human Givens (some people can take a little longer to get their result, 3 perhaps 4 sessions, some up to 6 sessions – more than that is rare).

Mindset and motivation is everything. When the thought of living one more month (or one more day) with a mental or emotional debility is more uncomfortable than taking action and googling ‘therapist in Aberdeen’ – or wherever – you know you’re in a category of client that a Human Givens therapists like me is going to love to see and would be honoured to work with.

Jennifer Broadley is the founder of www.HealthyChat.co.uk. Since 2012 she has worked full time delivering therapeutic, life-changing conversations from her private practices in Aberdeen, Dundee and the north of Scotland. She additionally works with UK clients by phone and European clients by skype. In 2002 Jennifer set up an executive coaching company supporting the continued high performance of business leaders and entrepreneurs working for medium and large companies – she is still active in this sector through www.JenniferBroadley.com.

 

Jennifer was brought up in West Africa, educated in Scotland and lived and worked in Hong Kong, Australia and Indonesia before returning to a London base in 1997. She and her daughter now live on the UK's east coast, where she continues to coach and write. Jennifer is a writer and a published author. Her first book 'The 7 Steps to Personal & Professional Freedom'®, is available on www.Amazon.co.uk. For therapy or executive coaching enquiries please email, message or call Jennifer via her websites.

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