This is a particular kind of counselling which focuses on the relationship between us the therapist and you our client. It is a truly collaborative experience where you will encounter someone who will not judge, who will accept you unconditionally and who will be 'real' in the relationship. This is not the kind of relationship we typically encounter in life where often we experience judgment, conditional acceptance and people who can sometimes act in ways which are not really true to themselves. This can often leave us feeling isolated, depressed, anxious or conflicted in our lives and relationships.

This style of counselling was developed in the 1950s by Carl Rogers. It is a humanistic approach to counselling and focuses on you, the whole person, not just your thinking, your behaviours or your presenting problem.

These humanistic approaches have been demonstrated to be effective for a broad range of problems in many studies since the 1950s. However, success of a course of therapy will depend on your commitment to the process, your openness and your willingness to engage with the process of change which may be necessary.

Therapy mirrors life. In other words, like anything new, there will be an initial starting phase where we both sit together and  figure out what brings you to therapy at this time, what are your objectives and what you would like to achieve from counselling. At this early stage, we also work out session costs, length, frequency and location. We talk about confidentiality, and the limits of confidentiality (under Irish law).

During the middle phase of therapy, we explore the difficulty and the objectives we've agreed in the early stages and work systematically through working out these problems in the here-and-now. We collaborate at gaining rich insights and understanding of why the problem came about, what needs to change, how this change can be put into effect and always working together with respect, acceptance and care.

In the final stage of therapy, we begin to close out our relationship. We look back over our time together and check that your original objectives (our contract) has been met. We celebrate what went well and mourn what didn't go so well, both are important to consider as they mirror what life is like outside of therapy. Having things which don't go so well in therapy are very useful as they can teach us as much about ourselves as those things from which we benefit. At Introspect Counselling we always offer the opportunity to come back at a future stage if you wish to do some more work.

The per-session fee includes all costs relating to our work e.g. insurance, professional memberships, room rental, office and administration costs and the actual fee for the counsellor!

Our typical rate is €50-€60 but there is some flexibility to offer lower cost sessions depending on your means e.g. if you are unemployed, part-time or a student. We would always discuss this in our first session together.

If you need to cancel an appointment we will need 24 hours notice, otherwise, you will be charged the usual per-session fee. If you cancel before 24 hours, there is no cancellation charge.

All of our sessions are 50 minutes in length. This is called a 'therapy hour' and is designed to give us enough time to wind up our work before leaving our office and to allow us to prepare for our next session and escort you to the door.

Session frequency is weekly (in some cases we can meet more frequently depending on your needs) and occasionally we can meet fortnightly if your circumstances require this arrangement. We have flexibility to offer morning, daytime and evening sessions so we can discuss a time which is convenient for us both during our first discussion.