Talking to a counsellor provides an opportunity to sit with someone who will hear and support you without judgment. Conversations with counsellors are confidential. They are calm, gentle and unhurried. They open up a space to express thoughts and feelings which may be unclear or difficult to describe. Taking the time to talk to a counsellor can lead to new ways of looking at things. This can lead to beneficial change.

  Here are some ways people find that talking to a counsellor can help.

• Make sense of something that has happened and put things in perspective. We can be disoriented by events which are significant, sudden and unexpected. We may wonder about how they will affect us and how we should respond. Talking to a counsellor can help us to step back, take stock of what has happened, and start to think about what we need to do to restore calm and a sense of purpose

• Solve a problem, devise a plan or make a decision. Sometimes, the task of working through a complicated problem can be eased by talking to a counsellor. As an impartial listener, a counsellor can help to clarify the issues, identify different options for effective action, and decide how and when to carry the actions out.

• Change a way of thinking or behaving which is causing problems. It's easy to have thoughts and beliefs which keep us stuck in ways of acting that don't help or even make things worse. Talking to a counsellor can help bring these ways of thinking out into the open, so we can choose more useful ways of thinking that will equip us to deal well with life's challenges.

• Manage difficult feelings and emotions. Strong feelings and emotions are our natural calls to action. Sometimes, they can overwhelm us. We can lose our ability to think clearly. We can react in ways that deepen our suffering and harm our relations with others. Talking to a counsellor can help find the sources of difficult feelings and emotions. With new understanding, we can develop more effective ways of responding.

• Find a way to cope with a major life change, set-back or crisis. Some major life changes can be accompanied by feelings of profound loss, loneliness, sadness, fear, anger and helplessness. We may wonder how we will cope. At these times, talking to a counsellor may provide the consolation of being close to another person who will take the time to listen, support, and simply be with us as we make the transition to life in perhaps a new form.

• Deal with a difficult or painful relationship. Our relationships suffer when we inadvertently contribute to each others suffering and create distance between us. In the midst of upset, it can be hard to work out how our relationships have become troubled or what we can do about it. A relationship counsellor can help the members of a couple or a family develop a shared awareness of their interactions, understand each others needs and concerns, and find new ways of supporting and enriching the relationship. Individuals who come alone to counselling can also be helped to find ways in which they can influence change in their relationships.

• Find, analyse and act on information. Some life challenges throw us into unfamiliar territory. We need to gather information. Then we need to make sense of it so we can make good decisions and plan what we have to do. This can be daunting. At times like this, talking to counsellor can mean we don't have to do this alone. Using the counsellor as a sounding board, we can test our understanding and discuss our ideas in safety. Sometimes, the counsellor may be able to point out further sources of information or expert help.

• Enhance self-care. Self-care is the attention we give to all the physical, psychological, and social functions that are under our individual control. Life challenges can distract us from attending to all the aspects of our overall wellness. Then we can neglect our self-care and become unhappy and unwell. Talking to a counsellor can help us review our self-care and find ways to restore or improve our well-being