Person-Centred Counselling
Person-centred counselling is grounded in a deceptively simple idea: that you already carry within you the capacity to grow and to heal. Over time this approach to therapy can help you live with more integrity and be more in tune with who you really are. Ultimately, changing and growing in this way helps you feel more authentic and happier.
None of this may seem very possible at the moment. But the person-centred approach, rooted in the work of psychologist Carl Rogers, is based on a fundamental trust in human potential and a belief in how people can develop and grow and make sense of their lives, even under intense pressure.
My role, as your counsellor, is to offer you the kind of ‘therapeutic relationship’ in which this inner potential has room to emerge. Not by diagnosing you or ‘fixing’ you, but by creating the conditions which facilitate this inner growth, in which your own voice gets clearer and your choices become more your own.
I see this happen in my practice all the time. Less as dramatic breakthroughs, but in a gradual way, quietly but authentically, real people changing.
What You Can Expect
When you come to a person-centred therapy session, you’re met with three core qualities. First is empathy, where you feel genuinely understood. Second is unconditional positive regard, meaning you’re accepted as you are, not as you “should” be. Finally, there’s congruence, meaning I’ll be honest and real with you, not hiding behind a professional mask.
These aren’t techniques to be drawn out and used as and when. They’re the core conditions which shape our therapeutic relationship, in which you can speak freely, feel what you actually feel in all its complexity, and begin to trust your own sense of what’s right for you. Over time, through this unique atmosphere and these core conditions, the grip of old habits and critical inner voices, or inherited expectations, can loosen.
Symptom Relief, And Then Something Deeper
You might come with anxiety, low mood, overwhelm, or a sense that something in your life no longer fits. That’s where we begin. Often, even being able to say these things out loud helps you breathe a little easier.
But if you choose to stay with the process, therapy can open out. You can begin to feel more connected to your own experience and less at odds with yourself. You might notice a shift in how you relate to others, or a quiet confidence emerging where before there was second-guessing. This isn’t about achieving some polished version of yourself. It’s about letting go of what’s been distorting the picture, so you can live with more clarity and integrity.
Not a Quick Fix, But a Real One
It’s human to want fast answers, especially when life feels urgent or stuck. But real change tends not to arrive on a deadline. Person-centred counselling isn’t a hack or a performance review. It’s a therapeutic relationship through which you hear your own thoughts and feelings more clearly, live less reactively, and connect with what actually matters to you.
What starts out as symptom relief becomes something deeper: a shift in how you meet your life.
The “People of Tomorrow”
Carl Rogers once described the kind of person he believed could thrive in a world that’s constantly shifting. This person wasn’t someone perfectly put together (whatever that would mean) but a person who was open to their experience, grounded in their own values, and willing to keep growing. These ‘people of tomorrow’ as Rogers called them, didn’t need to chase approval or cling to rigid beliefs. They could live with the complexity of real life, relate to others and to the world with compassion, and stay true to themselves even in uncertain times.
Here’s how Rogers put it:
“The person of the future… will be the individual who is open to experience, who trusts in his or her own organism, who is deeply and internally motivated… and who is able to select and follow ethical principles that make sense… without being dictated by external authorities.”
Considering Person-Centred Counselling?
If any of this speaks to where you are right now, you’re welcome to get in touch. You don’t need to be in crisis. Person-centred counselling offers a space to think, to feel, and to gradually come back into alignment with yourself.