Bettie Smythwood

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Offering Individual or Couples Counselling

I offer a confidential space for clients to talk about what is troubling them. Working with me, an Integrative Therapist you will get the best of both traditional and modern therapy. Unique tailoring to best help identify and better understand your issues. I offer techniques for coping, managing, and overcoming emotional difficulties. I actively participate in additional training to keep myself up to date with the latest research, skills and understanding to pass that on to you.

I work with a variety of presenting issues from depression, anxiety, anger, relationships to support for addiction, self-harm and abuse. If you don't identify with the presenting issues list below, no worries. Simply email or call, I offer a free 20 minute phone assessment for those unsure about what they want or need. I believe it is important to understand the person as a whole and look into the past, present and future to promote real active long lasting change. Our circumstances change, yet we can often get stuck in patterns of harmful behaviour, negative thoughts, or just feelings of hopelessness. I can help

I offer short and long term Counselling and Psychotherapy. What's the difference?

Counselling is usually short-term 6 to 18 sessions.The focus is on what's happening to you in the present. This could be difficulties at work/home, one specific traumatic event such as a bad break up or losing your job, or even just feeling more stressed then usual.We will look at your immediate presenting symptoms and behaviour (e.g. feeling more anxious than usual) and how that’s impacting your life, rather than delving deeper into your childhood or past. Looking at these symptoms, we will focus on equipping you with workable, short-term tools that can help you break out of negative thoughts and habits.

Psychotherapy is more in-depth. We will focus on emotions and experiences you encountered growing up - as a child or young adult - as well as your presenting symptoms and issues, in order to shed light on how these experiences have shaped who you are today. Emphasis will be placed on creating a space for you to feel comfortable to open up and share experiences from your past. The idea being that once these buried experiences (and their accompanying emotions) are brought to the surface, they can be fully processed, and ultimately, released.

Counselling can become Psychotherapy and Psychotherapy can become Counselling.

No matter what you decide you are never obligated to continue therapy and may stop at ANY time.

My passion for choosing to work as a Professional Counsellor and Psychotherapist was from my own experience as a client and the positive changes in made in my life. We all go through difficult times and sometimes we just simply need someone to talk to. I can help