Q: What is Counselling?

A: I view counselling as a non-judgemental process undertaken in a private and confidential setting. Counselling enables you to explore any difficulties you may have. It helps you to make choices, discover root causes of an anxiety or problem and find within yourself the answers that you need or the strength to cope.  It can help you understand how your current difficulties and past experiences can be linked. It can help alleviate emotional pain and can teach you new skills with which you can successfully deal with your problems. Counselling is about respecting you to decide for yourself what is best for you and can only be descibed as an enabling empowering relationship with a skilled helper.

Q: What is Hypnosis?

A: It is a state of intense relaxation and concentration in which the mind becomes remote and detached from everyday concerns. In this relaxed state the subconscious part of the mind is best able to respond creatively to suggestions and imagery. It can focus on the things you wish to change and on the ways you can best do so, free from analytical or anxious thoughts. It is actually a natural state that you have been literally in thousand of times for example as you drift into sleep, as you awaken, whenever you put yourself on "automatic pilot" while performing a routine task such as driving.

Q: Can Hypnosis be Harmful?

A: You cannot be made to violate your own values or accepted patterns of behaviour. It is your choice to enter the trance state and likewise it is your choice to leave it at any time. If left in a trance you would either return to consciousness or enter a natural sleep and awaken after a pleasant nap.

Q: How can Hypnotherapy help me?

A: By:

• Breaking unwanted habits like smoking or teeth grinding.
• Aiding weight loss and weight control.
• Dealing with panic attacks and phobias.
• Obtaining relief from chronic symptoms like skin conditions and stuttering
• Improves sleep, reduces stress, controls painful symptoms.
• Controls some organic functions such as blood pressure and heart rate.
• Increase the ability to concentrate and increases the capacity to learn and remember in tremendous detail.
• Compress a great deal of thinking and recall in a very short amount of time.
• Boosting self-confidence.
• Viewing your problems from a different perspective, freeing you to find new awareness, which endows your life with deeper meaning.

Q: What is Acupuncture?

A: Acupuncture is a system of healing which has been practised in China and other Eastern countries for thousands of years. Although often described as a means of pain relief, it is in fact used to treat people with a wide range of illnesses. Its focus is on improving your overall well being rather than the isolated treatment of specific symptoms. According to traditional Chinese philosophy our health is dependent on the body's motivating energy-known as Qi- moving in a smooth and balanced way through a series of channels beneath the skin. Qi consists of equal and opposite qualities-Yin and Yang- and when these become unbalanced, illness may result. By inserting fine needles into the channels of energy, an acupuncturist can stimulate the body's own healing response and help restore its natural balance. The flow of Qi can be disturbed by a number of factors. These include emotional states such as anxiety, stress, anger, fear or grief, poor nutrition, weather conditions, hereditary factors, infections, poisons and trauma. The principal aim of acupuncture in treating the whole person is to recover equilibrium between physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual.

Q: Who has Acupuncture?

A: Many people come to acupuncture for help with specific symptoms or conditions. These might include anxiety states, arthritis, asthma, back pain, circulatory problems, depression, facial paralysis, high blood pressure, intedeterminate aches and pains, infertility, menstrual problems, migraines, rheumatism, sciatica and skin conditions. Acupuncture is a safe treatment for all. It has proved to be effective in pregnancy management and for the relief of pain in childbirth. Acupuncture is also helpful for people trying to overcome addictions such as those related to smoking, alcohol, food or drugs. Some people may have acupuncture as a preventative measure to strengthen their constitution, or because they feel unwell in themselves without being “ill” in the Western sense. It can also be used alongside conventional medicine in the treatment of both acute and chronic disease. As with any therapy, the response to acupuncture can vary from one person to another.

Q: What does it feel like?

A: Most people’s experience of needles is of those used in injections and blood tests. Acupuncture needles bear little resemblance to these. They are much finer and are solid rather than hollow. When the needle is inserted, the sensation is often described as a tingling or dull ache. Needles are inserted either for a second or two, or left in place for up to 20 minutes, depending on the effect required. During treatment, patients commonly experience a heaviness in the limbs or a pleasant feeling of elation.

The benefits of acupuncture frequently include more than just relief from a particular condition. Many people find that it can also lead to increased energy levels, better appetite and sleep as well as an enhanced sense of overall well being.