Vancouver Counselling Services - Frequently Asked Questions

• Have you been under a lot of stress lately?
• Or maybe you and your partner have been having problems in your relationship?
• Your health has been poor even though there doesn't seem to be anything medically wrong with you.
• Maybe there are some long-term life problems that you have been wrestling with and would like some help in sorting them through.

In any event, coming to your Vancouver counselling session for the first time can be an anxiety provoking experience - "what can I expect?"

The following are just a few of the usual questions that clients have and may be hesitant to ask:

1. What is counselling?
2. Why might I seek counseling?
3. How does counselling work?
4. How can counseling help me?
5. Myths about counselling.
6. What is the difference between psychotherapy, counselling and coaching?
7. What are the types of counselling?
8. What is the difference between a counsellor, psychotherapist, psychologist and psychiatrist?
9. More questions? Email me with your specific questions and I'll get right back to you!

What Is Counselling?    top

• Counselling is a talking treatment that aims to help you to find ways of coping with problems you may be experiencing.
• The overall aim of counselling is to provide an opportunity for you to work towards living in a more satisfying and resourceful way.

Why Might I Seek Counselling?    top

• You may be experiencing emotional distress around a specific life event such as divorce or bereavement.
• You may be feeling depressed or experiencing a crisis, you may be feeling confused or wish to develop a greater degree of self-understanding.
• It may be that you need someone to talk to and either do not wish to burden family or friends or want to talk to someone independent of them.
• You may feel that you need more support in terms of time, understanding and trust than family and friends can offer you.

How Does Counseling Work?    top

• Counselling involves talking with someone who is trained in the art of listening so that you can express how you feel in order to begin to find your own solutions to your problems.
• The counselor can help you face up to issues more easily and take responsibility for your part in them, as well as helping you to recognize more clearly how other people may be affecting you.
• Counselling provides an opportunity for you to talk safely about your fears.
• You can explore alternatives and weigh them up more objectively.

How Can Counselling Help Me?    top

• Talking to someone who listens and shows empathy and acceptance can help you to explore issues that are troubling you. This can help you to gain relief from emotional distress such as anxiety, depression, stress or phobias.
• The counsellor is qualified to guide you to develop a greater understanding of your feelings, thoughts and behaviours.

Myths about Counselling.    top

• There is a myth that attending counselling is a sign of weakness, that strong people maintain a "stiff upper lip" and have no need for counselling. Exploring one's feelings and emotions with a view to leading a more positive way of life is a sign of courage rather than of weakness. Problems and difficulties that are not dealt with do not simply go away, they can mount up and in time cause a major crisis.
• Another myth is that counselling is only for people who have mental health problems, and that you have to be completely unable to cope to consider counselling. This is untrue - many people find counselling enables them to cope with specific problems such as relationship breakdown or bereavement. Those who attend counselling are simply ordinary people who wish to work towards living a more healthy and positive lifestyle.
• Some people think that counsellors are there to give them advice and tell them what they should do in a particular situation. Most counsellors do not work in this way, but aim to help people to explore their situations and possible solutions and work out which is the right way forward for them.

What is the difference between psychotherapy, counselling and coaching?    top

• There is not much difference between psychotherapy and counseling in terms of what actually occurs in a session. Counselling tends to have more here-and-now focus, and can be quite brief, while psychotherapy tends to focus on deeper, historical problems.
• Coaching is for people who no longer want to stay the same. Coaching begins with the present and assists clients in setting very clear, and specific goals that they want to achieve in the future.
• While the past may be discussed on occasion, it is addressed only in the context of discovering what is blocking the client from moving forward. The focus is always on movement and taking action, not on insight or understanding.

What are the types of Counselling?    top

Individual Counselling

This provides an opportunity to be listened to while you talk about whatever is troubling you. This can be short-term, even as short as a one-off session, or longer term over a period of weeks or months. It is often specific to a particular problem you are experiencing, with the counsellor helping you to find ways of coping with it.

Couple Counselling

This is for couples who want to sort out problems in their relationship. They attend together and the counsellor helps them to express their difficulties, listen to each other, develop an understanding of each other, and find ways of making their relationship work better. They may decide to end the relationship but, hopefully, having gained more understanding of why it was not working, and what lessons they can learn for the future.

Family Counselling

This is similar to relationship counselling, but involves the entire family. The counsellor will help family members explore the ways in which individuals behave and how this affects the family as a whole. The family will be encouraged to develop an understanding of each other and develop ways of communicating effectively with each other as individuals and as a group.

What is the difference between a Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Psychologist, Psychiatrist and Social Worker?    top

Counsellors

Counsellors/Psychotherapists counsel clients, provide therapy, evaluate the effectiveness of counselling programs and evaluate clients' progress in resolving identified problems and movement towards defined objectives, and they follow up results of counselling programs and clients' adjustments.

A Registered Clinical Counsellor is a fully qualified mental health profession with a minimum of a Master's degree in counselling psychology or related studies and is a registered member with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors. This association maintains high standards that ensure safety and well being of clients among counsellors. They offer much of the same psychological and counselling services that psychologists and other counsellors do. RCC fees typically start at $100/hour.

Psychologists

In the province of British Columbia Psychologists have attained at least a doctorate degree in psychology. They typically carry out much of the research in the field of psychology. Unlike psychiatry, psychology is a non-medical discipline that has been firstly concerned with the normal functioning of the mind and has explored areas such as learning, remembering and the normal psychological development of children. Psychologists are not able to prescribe medication and so concentrate exclusively on psychological or 'talking treatments'. They treat a wide range of conditions, including phobias, depression, other individual emotional problems and family problems. Psychologist's fees typically start at $150/hour.

Psychiatrists

Psychiatrists are medically trained doctors that receive an additional 6 month training in the field of psychiatry. Although some psychiatrists will specialize in 'biological' psychiatry, most psychiatrists employ a number of different types of treatment, tailoring each combination to the needs of the individual patient. However, all psychiatrists are able to prescribe medication if they feel it is called for. They tend to be called upon to treat the more serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and manic depression.

Social Workers

Social work positions generally have at least a B.A. university social work degree. It is mandatory to be registered with the Board of Registration for social workers to use the title of "Registered Social Worker" or to represent oneself as a Social Worker in the province of British Columbia. However, registration is not mandatory in order to be employed in the field of social work in B.C. Social Workers treat social functioning difficulties, provide counselling, therapy and referral to other supportive social services, and evaluate child development and the adequacy of child care.