Therapies

Breaking Habitual Behaviour

Finding effective ways of stopping and changing negative habitual behaviour like phobias, compulsions/urges, binge eating and other eating patterns (not diagnosed eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia) and smoking, just to name a few.


Phobias are many and varied and are fear based. A phobia is an extreme irrational fear of, or aversion to something. Phobias can impinge on a person’s lifestyle in a way that can create an extreme fear state and limit their freedom and spontaneity.

Please visit a website like click here to read more about phobias.


A person feeling powerless at being caught in a cycle that they are unable to break, e.g. smoking, binge eating, an overemphasis or problematic concentration on certain foods like sweets, chocolate, coffee, fatty foods, crisps (just to name a few) can push that person into a deflated state. Being trapped in a pattern of this kind can often lead to feelings of despair and anger which can, over time, be turned inward in an attack against the self, resulting in low confidence, self esteem and depression.

What I can offer:

- identify issue and problematic impact

- explore components of the compulsion or behaviour

- explore related emotional elements

- identify links and triggers

- explore degree of motivation to change

- address blocks to change if any are identified


This would lead to the introduction of an Algorithm - an effective technique you can learn and take away with you and use in supporting yourself in breaking ties with the phobia, compulsion or behaviour


What is usually encouraged is a follow up 90 minute session to

- assess progress

- rework some of the components of the treatment

- fine tune the Algorithm

My Approach to Stress Management

A definition of stress that I find most helpful is: WHEN THE TASK BEFORE ME (OR PRESENT LIFE SITUATION) IS GREATER THAN MY PERCEIVED ABILITY TO COPE. In recent years it has become more apparent that escalating stress is a major contributor to our declining physical and emotional health. It would be unrealistic to believe that, in both the workplace and our personal relationships, we can live a totally stress free life. The fact is - stress is part of life. It is important that we learn how to understand and manage our stress levels effectively. It is becoming increasingly more important to identify sources of our stress before we can take appropriate action in addressing the core issues. The goal in all of this would be to improve our self awareness and understanding, identify sources of stress and either bring resolution where possible or find ways of reducing the stress level to normal functioning levels.


In my Stress Management Practice I have devised an eight step model to help a person identify and understand the sources of their stress and their negative impact on their life. The visual work sessions can aid in empowering the person to make changes through revised thinking and behaviour, thus reducing their stress level. The positive experience of change can become the building blocks for increased self esteem and self confidence. The result can help restore a sense of internal peace and wellbeing.

Step 1 - introduction and stress test

Step 2 - identification of stress areas

Step 3 - visual stress mapping

Step 4 - exploration of the emotional, psychological and physiological aspects of stress

Step 5 - exploration of the impact stress has on thinking, behaviour and quality of life

Step 6 - function and place of boundaries / identification and establishment of appropriate boundaries

Step 7 - working towards change - boundaries / thinking / behaviour / stress reduction and management

Step 8 - Implementation of support strategy / self care

Counselling Needs in the Workspace

SERVICES TO SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED COMPANIES AND ORGANISATIONS

Bespoke ON and OFF SITE Services:


  • CONFIDENTIAL COUNSELLING TO MANAGERS AND MEMBERS OF STAFF
  • SUPPORT DURING DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES
  • MEDIATION
  • TRAUMATIC INCIDENT DEBRIEF SERVICE
  • EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS ON UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING STRESS

I, along with a small group of professional and highly trained counsellors and therapists will meet with members of management to discuss all your counselling needs and help you as a business/company/organisation to formulate and action a Duty of Care plan to cater to the emotional and psychological needs of your employees.


Some of my experience in responding to on-site requests have included:


  1. Stress Tests / Understanding Stress / Management and Reduction of Stress
  2. Anger Management
  3. Bereavement: Group and One to One debrief after the death of a member of staff
  4. Changes / Adjustment: Helping members of staff to process emotion around change in the workplace - cutbacks, job role, redundancy, retirement, work performance anxiety
  5. Follow-Up Counselling Support provided on and off site
  6. Critical Incident Response: Working with members of staff in response to shock and the processing of emotion following a Critical Incident on site
  7. Full Written Report to Management

I also provide help and support within Schools and Third level Institutions:

Transition and Adjustment Support / Counselling to new teachers and lecturers

Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss this service. I would be happy to travel to your office, or to welcome you to my consulting rooms in central Gloucester for an informal chat to discuss your company's needs.

Is Counselling for Me?

Counselling / Psychotherapy could help if:

You feel low, stressed or worried

  • Ongoing loneliness, sense of futility, stress, confusion, anger, trouble sleeping, depression, anxiety.

You have suffered bereavement, loss, or other traumatic events

  • Feeling empty and lost following the death of a loved one, changing job, work related stress and anxiety, house sale and moving, elderly parents, facing redundancy or retirement.

You find relationships difficult

  • You lack confidence or have feelings of poor self worth, suffering health problems with no clear physical cause, experience difficulty in sustaining a satisfying relationship, problems within personal or work relationships, communication difficulties and drifting apart, same sex partnership, confused sexual identity, complicated family ties, issues around intimacy, feeling undervalued, relationship breakup/divorce.

You seek greater self-knowledge and wish to develop your potential

How can Counselling / Psychotherapy Help?

  • By offering support in a safe and confidential environment
  • By helping to deepen self-awareness
  • By making sense of recurring problems through exploring their links with the past
  • By working at making changes to thinking and behaviour
  • By empowering you to make healthier choices and decisions

It takes courage to ask for help of this kind, especially when you are struggling with low self esteem. Counselling / Psychotherapy could help you get back in touch with yourself and regain a sense of healthy control over your life. In a safe and non-judgemental environment therapy can aid your self understanding, bring clarity where there is confusion, and prepare the groundwork to resolve issues and implement change. Over time, therapy has the potential to help you regain your sense of internal peace and enhance your capacity to live a more meaningful life.


“I have come to believe that by and large the human family all has the same secrets, which are both very telling and very important to tell. They are telling in the sense that they tell what is perhaps the central paradox of our condition—that what we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else. It is important to tell at least from time to time the secret of who we truly and fully are—even if we tell it only to ourselves—because otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are and little by little come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing. It is important to tell our secrets too because it makes it easier that way to see where we have been in our lives and where we are going. It also makes it easier for other people to tell us a secret or two of their own, and exchanges like that have a lot to do with what being a family is all about and what being human is all about.”

― Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets



© Bill Dillon

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