How do I cope with a difficult experience? What am I missing in relationships? Why do I feel unbalanced? What are my goals and values? How do I perceive my body better? Who am I?
Psychological or Psychosocial counselling can help in many situations. I offer professional and empathic guidance in questions of coping with everyday life, relationships, identity search and personality development.
Please take into account that “Psychological / Psychosocial Counselling” can mean different things in different countries. In Switzerland, the quality standards are set by SGfB, the Swiss Association for Counselling, of which I am a member. Refer to their website for further informations.
What is psychosocial counselling? Differences from psychotherapy
The goal of psychosocial counseling is to support people through professional guidance to be able to cope with problems using their own resources, to perceive and communicate needs and boundaries, and to be able to talk about difficult issues. Psychosocial counselling is similar to psychotherapy in many ways, but there are some fundamental differences. As a counsellor, I cannot treat/heal mental illnesses, nor can I make diagnoses. However, counselling can help prevent such diseases. The emphasis in counselling is less on dealing with the past and more on addressing challenges and problems in the present.
How does psychosocial counselling work?
It is important to me to tailor the consultation to your needs. After all, YOU should get what you need from our sessions. The design of a session is always also a negotiation process in which we clarify what is needed at the moment.
An important part of the consultation will be conversation. You have room to talk about your experiences and challenges. However, there are a variety of other expressions that we can use in counselling. Examples are focusing, painting, movement, imaginations, dialoguing through objects of different inner parts, self-awareness exercises and much more. Also, we can set “homework” if you find that helpful. Follow this link if you want to get to know better the approaches I work with.
It is difficult to say how often and how long the whole counselling process will take. Ultimately, you decide how often and for how long you want to come. Meetings at shorter intervals (weekly or fortnightly) are a good way of staying in contact with current issues. If the intervals are longer (three weeks and more), we tend to focus on longer-term and higher-level topics such as patterns in behavior or relationships. The first session seves the purpose to get to know each other and to discuss the procedure and the goals for the further sessions. Your feedback is very important to me, so I will solicit it regularly and tailor sessions accordingly.
A counselling process doesn’t have to take years (unless, of course, you want it to). For many challenges, 5-8 sessions are enough. You may also decide after a session or two that my type of counselling, or counselling in general, is not what you are looking for right now. Or you can come in for a few sessions now and then when you have a current need.
For whom is counselling for?
Basically, I am happy about every person who comes to me for counselling. I currently focus on working with adults in individual settings.
I position myself as a queer person offering counselling services to toher queer people with queer.growing.support because I think there are too few mental health services for queers. However, your queerness does not have to be at the center of your counselling. You are also welcome to join me if you don’t see yourself as queer, but would like some difference-sensitive guidance.
Framework
Psychosocial counselling is currently not recognized by either basic or supplemental insurance. This means that you usually have to bear the costs of the consultation yourself. You can view my rates here.
It is my responsibility as a counsellor in the counselling process to help resolve your concerns through an empathic and encouraging relationship and by using appropriate methods. Likewise, I strive to create an open and difference-sensitive climate so that you can address all that is important to you. In order to constantly improve my skills, I videotape counselling sessions at regular intervals for supervision. I will ask for your permission before recording.
It is very important for the success of the consultation that you feel comfortable with me. It can sometimes be more helpful to end a consultation than to continue it feeling uncomfortable. So that I can better orient myself to your expectations and wishes, we discuss the common goals together. Addressing what you see as difficult or inappropriate in our counselling sessions greatly increases the chances that you will be satisfied with my counselling. The active application of jointly developed solution proposals outside of consulting can accelerate the overall process.
You generally have the right to cancel the consultation at any time if it does not meet your expectations. In any case, it is helpful if you can tell me the reason for the cancellation so that any discrepancies can still be clarified.
Remote counselling
The prerequisite for online counselling is that you have a functioning computer connected to the network and that you have an undisturbed room available during the sessions. Note that online sessions must each be paid for in advance.
You can choose the platform you trust for online counselling – Skype, Zoom or something else. It is important that you are aware that data protection cannot be guaranteed in the same way on digital platforms as it can be at an on-site meeting.
