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Private Counselling in Havant.
Dean Richardson MNCS(Accredited Registrant).
Counselling services in Havant available with professional counsellor Dean Richardson MNCS(Accredited Registrant).
Practising counselling since 1999, Dean Richardson focusses on offering professional, quality private counselling services for individuals, couples and support groups.
Dean’s private counselling services are available to individuals, couples and groups from Waterlooville to Portsmouth, Southampton to Chichester, Fareham, Gosport, Hayling Island, Havant and Petersfield – and unlike agency-counselling where you may not get to know who your counsellor is until after you’ve met with an assessor… or until you turn up for your first session (a counsellor having being allocated to you by someone who doesn’t know you), should you decide to work with Dean Richardson then that’s who you’ll get to work with… Dean Richardson.
Let’s discuss a little more about what counselling is any why people choose to meet with a counsellor.
Why Choose Private Counselling?
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What is Private Counselling?
‘Private’ Counselling is a high quality therapy service that you fund yourself, by insurance such as an Employee Assistance Program, or by being referred by your GP or the NHS.
As to what is ‘counselling’, let’s start with what counselling isn’t:
- Counselling isn’t about having someone tell you how to get things right.
- Counselling isn’t about telling the counsellor about what’s wrong, and then he’ll tell you what to do.
- Counselling isn’t (usually!) a brief service where your major problems will be resolved in a matter of just a few sessions.
- (… and in couple counselling) Counselling isn’t about bringing your partner so that the counsellor will stop him or her from doing the things that bother you.
Counselling (particularly Dean’s form of counselling) is a very specialised form of conversation-based therapy that takes years of training and practice to deliver authentically & effectively. The service is focussed on helping the client attain what the client is unable to attain alone (at least alone-right-now).
Whilst it may appear that the counsellor and client are talking socially (and, socially, we’re often simply waiting for the other person to stop speaking so that we can have our say) the counsellor is working to quite a different agenda: to stay focussed upon you, the issues that are troubling your life, and how it is that you’re unable to manage without a counsellor right now.
Dean Richardson asks the questions that no-one else in your life is asking. His philosophy is that somewhere within you is the re(solution) to your own issues; it’s just that some issues will be so massive that you may have lost your way in being able to resolve them yourself. So, together, you and Dean will work on helping you get back on your feet, and then rebuilding that which you have lost so that you can leave counselling better than before … and, by the end, you won’t need Dean any longer.
Regarding counselling experience, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) requires a minimum of 450 hours of supervised practice before they will even consider someone applying for the Accreditation award. Accreditation is a form of professional vetting – which confirms a therapist’s substantial experience, training and commitment to furthering practice. Dean was originally accredited with the BACP until his resignation from the organisation in 2018.
Dean Richardson is a registered counsellor, an accredited member of the National Counselling Society.
Begin Counselling with Dean.
Read Five Steps to Beginning Private Counselling…
With Dean there are no tests that you have to pass (or fail), no exercises to take home, no forms to fill in or records to keep, no drawings or paintings to do that reveal your hidden psyche, before you and he begin counselling. An initial session will allow you and Dean to discuss what could (and what could not) be provided in counsellor so that you and he can make an informed decision on if counselling with him would be a suitable approach.
Counselling with Dean isn’t just talk, either! Dean’s role is focused upon being your therapeutic partner for the time it takes counselling to be of enough help for you. To put it bluntly: you’re not going to go through your crap alone.
As a qualified, accredited and experienced counsellor, Dean will help you to help yourself work through problems – whether deep or superficial – to the point where you won’t need to work with him any longer.
Ethical Approach to Counselling.
Within Dean’s counselling practice is an ethical approach to ensure that you don’t become dependent on him or the counselling relationship; allowing you to internalise (i.e. take on board within your unconscious) the therapeutic relationship & thoughtful processes so that you can leave counselling better than you started.
To be able to carry on with your life less burdened than before would be an achievement.
There’s no requirement for post-counselling “top-up” sessions, neither. Once you’re finished in counselling with Dean, you’re finished! This approach is intended to give you a good-enough ending to counselling. Of course, you can always revisit sometime in the future if you wish to look at other matters, or re-occurrence of old matters, but you don’t need to feel as though you’ve somehow failed, or somehow not finished your counselling, if you want to continue working on matters later on in your life.
Portsmouth’s Regional Choice for Counselling in Central Havant.
It is accurate to say that the most experienced therapists are the most competent at being aware who they can work with … and who they cannot. It’s not only the therapist’s techniques that matters in counselling, it’s also the relationship between client and counsellor that matters.
Dean Richardson’s approach to counselling is collaborative – it’s not counselling that is *done* to you (it’s not prescriptive) and the counsellor must help you make an informed decision on working with him/her would be the right approach for you.
So why not consider Dean Richardson for Portsmouth counselling?
A Helpful Initial Assessment Session.
Dean offers a initial assessment session which covers:-
(i) Taking some administration details (name, address, contact telephone etc)
(ii) Talking through the ethics of counselling (how we will work together, what are the boundaries for our work, fees etc)
(iii) Giving you the time to tell your story (with assistance from the counsellor).
During this time Dean is checking to see if he thinks you and he can work together. Of course, this is a mutual assessment (you are checking Dean and his way of working too) and by the end of the assessment a conversation will be in order about if carrying on with future counselling sessions seems appropriate, discussing a referral to someone whose specialities may suit you better, or ending therapy there.
No obligation to continue past Session 1.
Some people worry that if they go to a counselling sessions they’ll somehow be tied into attending many more sessions. Not so with Dean Richardson.
Generally, Dean’s approach is an ‘open-ended’ technique – meaning that you can stay for as few or as many sessions whilst both you and Dean recognise that they are doing you some benefit. You’re not being invited to attend counselling forever – when the original focus for counselling has been address sufficiently (for you), the ending of counselling will be flagged; if you’ve not begun to do this already.
If you don’t like the counselling process – you are very welcome to speak up about it. This can help the counselling to take directions that you had never thought were possible before! Change your behaviour patterns (eg instead of dumping the person, you can talk with them about the problems).
Once you (and/or Dean) begin(s) to recognise that what you came into counselling for has been addressed – or addressed enough for your needs – then you and Dean can begin to look at how you both would like to end counselling … together.
Counselling Face-to-Face or on Skype Video.
Dean practices counselling in person (face-to-face, in his Havant practice) or online using Skype video (read more…). Full services (couples, individuals, groups) are provided in both locations/media.
Counselling Services.
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Couple Counselling.
When a couple’s relationship suffers conflicts & breakdowns and partners wish to engage a professional to help them understand what may be going on, couples may prefer a counsellor who remains neutral. Neutrality means that the counsellor side with one partner (or the other), and is someone who assists the partners in discovering their own resolutions to their relationship problems (rather than to make “have you tried this” prescriptions).
Couples choose counselling when the usual way they handle their relationship conflicts is no longer up to the job. Some relationships struggle to manage certain conflicts for years until something changes. his might be due to a negative recent event (affair, trust, life events etc), or one from years ago that can no longer be ignored. Infidelity, mistrust, life stages, birth, ageing, death, wishing to separate etc. are just a few of the many reasons why couples choose a couple relationship counsellor.
In aiming to help the couple help themselves in understanding what’s going on in their relationship, the couple can teach themselves to become unstuck and move through relationship problems. With new information a couple can notices differences and use these to make changes (by themselves) for the better.
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Individual Counselling.
All sorts of individuals come to counselling for all sorts of reasons. Those experiencing a negative recent event, or one from years ago, unexplained behaviour, infidelity, mistrust, life stages, relationships, ageing death … they all have an impact on an individual’s life – and counselling is there when you have temporarily lost your ability to manage on your own.
The counsellor does not impose a procedure, nor offer exercises that if the client follows to the letter will discover that they are cured. Instead, the therapist and client engage in discussing the problems whilst, at the same time, a therapeutic relationship builds between then. This trusting, professional relationship can become the basis for the counselling work – using examples in the here and now (what’s happening between therapists and client) to help both understand the difficulties in real time. Working through problems in the present is an effective way of addressing problems from the past because … obvious as it may seem … we cannot change the past no matter how hard we try.
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Support Groups.
Sometimes, joining a therapeutic support group can help an individual recognise that they’re not struggling with their problems alone.
Groups not only discuss problems similar to each group member, but can also discuss “non-problems” (i.e. by the group discussing matters that are not the individual’s problem, the group can helpfully demonstrate life-management skills that are different to an individual’s personal difficulties).
Groups can be homogeneous (all members share similar personal-problems) or heterogeneous (members exhibit different problems), a closed group (the group starts with the same members that it finishes with) or open (the group allows new members to join and others to life during the life of the group).
Dean Richardson’s support groups are created “On Demand” – a between 6 and 8 participants are required for a new group to commence. If you’re interested in joining a group, contact Dean to discuss what’s currently scheduled.
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Skype Counselling .
Sometimes you find your ideal counsellor … and he works 100s of miles away from you. Fortunately, you can access Dean Richardson’s counselling services from your camera-enabled computer or Smartphone.
Simply install the free Skype software, and you can engage in counselling sessions with Dean using video conferencing.
Couples who are in a distance-relationship can also make use of Skype Couples Counselling – as Dean supports group conferencing (both of you – along with Dean – using Skype simultaneously with everyone seeing the other two people on their screen).
What’s Skype counselling like? Initially some people find video conferencing a little unusual, but a handy tip is that if you maximise the video window, looking at the computer feels like the person is in the room as you.
Want to work with Dean, but are unable to get to his location? Consider Skype Counselling.
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