Annika Giles

There are times in our life when we may need some support to deal with a challenging situation in our life.  We need to be heard and valued at who we are even when are feeling low. 

I am passionate about supporting you to find a way how to feel better again.  Those anxious feelings, overwhelming sadness when you have lost a loved one, stress which has become increasingly difficult to cope with, low self-esteem and self confidence, struggling to cope with chronic illness, relationship issues, are some of the issues which I am used to supporting with, both with women and men.  Counselling may not take those issues away, but it can give you ways of coping with them a lot better. It can allow you to move forward again with your life. 

What is counselling

In case you have not had counselling before, just couple words to explain what is counselling as I still remember how daunting it was to make the first contact with my first counsellor.  I did not know what to expect or what was expected from me.

Person-centred way of counselling is for me as counsellor to listen when you are ready to talk. There is no agenda, there is no need for you to share anything what you are not ready to share with me and there are no advices given by me.  It can take time to build the trusting relationship, and sometimes you may find that I am not the right counsellor for you. It is okay!

You choose what you want to talk about and what you would like to achieve by having counselling sessions. My role is to support you with this and we will review the progress together.

The initial free session is for you to ask me more about how counselling works, and us to get to know each other. 

Can counselling help?

I know it is not always easy to stay positive and strong. I also know by experience that having right support can really make you feel better, and help you to cope with different life experiences on your own again. 

I am passionate about supporting others to find their own potential and way of coping with different life experiences, big or small. I believe that talking about your anxious feelings, sadness, and any other feelings after bereavement, overwhelming stress at work, relationship issues, coping with chronic illness or any other issues which may be troubling you, can really help.

It can even be that you do not really know at the moment how you feel, or how to express your feelings. 

I believe that my role as a counsellor is to offer you a safe, confidential and trusting therapeutic relationship which supports you to explore either issues from the past or present.  

I believe that we all need someone whom we can share confidentially how it really feels for us, without any judgements. Someone who listens us attentively.

Therefore it is important to take time to find the right counsellor for you.

Taking those first steps:

Counselling can support you to make sense of different feelings and emotions you are going through. It may not take away your issues, but it can support you to find a way of understanding and dealing with difficult experiences in the past and present.  It can help you to make sense of who you are.

My multicultural background means that I know how it can feel to be different, even rootless or to wonder where do I belong.  

Making the first contact can feel daunting, therefore I offer a 30min free telephone or online (zoom) session for you to find out more about counselling services I offer and how I am as a counsellor. 

Walk and talk therapy

Not only do I believe the healing powers of nature, but I also think that walk and talk therapy may suit better for those who are not keen on "traditional" counselling set up. Therefore I will be offering talk and walk therapy after initial sessions in York/Beverley/Pocklington areas.