Wendy Kennett-Brown
Counselling & Psychotherapy
in Ealing, Acton, West London

What is Counselling?

Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose.

By listening attentively the counsellor can begin to see the dificulties from the client's point of view and can help them see things more clearly, possibly from a different perspective. This enables the client make choices or changes if they wish. The counsellor does not give advice or judge the client.

In the sessions the client can explore various aspects of their life and feelings, talking about them freely and openly in a way that is rarely possible with friends and family. Bottled up feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief, and embarrassment can be expressed, accepted by the counsellor and explored so that they can become easier to understand.

As the relationship between counsellor and client develops, so too does the trust between them, enabling the client to look at many aspects of themselves and their relationships which they may not have considered or been able to face before.

What is Psychotherapy?

It is similar to counselling, but there is more emphasis on exploring unconscious causes of psychological distress and the meaning of symptoms. Often dream interpretation is used. It is usually longer term than counselling, and the client may have more frequent sessions than once a week.

My personal approach is psychoanalytic / psychodynamic, which understands behaviour and emotions as being affected by unconscoius feelings and motives often rooted in childhood. As I listen to the problems you bring I make links between what you are experiencing in the present and what happened earlier in you life and relationships. Also I use the dynamics of the relationship we establish to further assist me in the work.

My Family Systems training has given me insight into the complexity and intensity of family relationships.