C/ Fernandez de la Hoz 1
Madrid
Spain 28003
admin
Services - What You Can Expect During Your First Session
Once you have contacted the service by phone or email you will receive the Preliminary Intake Form by email. Here we ask you some basic information (preferred day/time of the week for your sessions; type of therapy etc.) as well as your preference for a male or female counsellor/therapist/coach.
During the intake session, which takes approx. two hours, you have the opportunity to evaluate your current situation with your counsellor. This is primarily done by the asking of some questions to help you clarify and describe your issues. (some clients have a detailed picture or idea of the area where they would like to achieve change, while other clients might be starting to explore difficult issues for the first time in their lives.) You also have the opportunity to fill out several questionnaires allowing us to evaluate levels of Depression, Anxiety, Functioning & Well-being. The standard outcome of an Intake session always include an estimated duration (nr of sessions) of therapy and a Plan of Treatment.(Sometimes we will need two sessions to complete the Evaluation and Treatment Plan.)
Counselling services at Counselling Madrid are in accordance with the BACP (British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy) code of ethics which means we are ethically committed to confidentiality. We encourage you to discuss any concerns you might have regarding confidentiality with your therapist. Counselling Madrid also offers Life Coaching (please see below for a full description of Life Coaching).
Art Therapy
(Temporarily not available) Art therapy is an interdisciplinary form of psychotherapy used across a range of health and medical fields, and may incorporate the clients' use of various visual art forms such as drawing, painting, sculpture and collage. It differs from traditional art as the focus is on the art process rather than on the final product. It is this creative process that can be explored from a range of perspectives or frameworks including Humanistic, Person Centred and Psychodynamic.
Art therapy can be used as a diagnostic tool in order to initiate a treatment strategy, or in a therapeutic manner providing a less challenging, non-verbal environment to express challenging feelings. Within an art therapeutic approach the therapist and client develop a dynamic interpersonal relationship with firm boundaries and clear goals. Art therapy is used across various mental health presentations and difficulties causing distress for the individual or family such as anxiety and depression, life changes, crises, cross cultural adjustment, trauma, illness and disabilities.
The creative process is suitable for all ages as no art experience or technical ability is necessary. It is often used in both individual and group work, and can benefit in numerous ways such as providing the ability to: express feelings difficult to discuss, develop healthy coping skills, increase self esteem and confidence, clarify issues and concerns, improve communication skills, assist with development of motor skills and physical co-ordination, identify feelings and blocks to emotional expression and personal insight, help achieve awareness and a more integrated sense of self.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - CBT
CBT allows clients to focus on specific problems, often related to irrational thinking or faulty perceptions which cause dysfunctions. In therapy clients work to change problematic behaviors that have been trained through years of reinforcement. An example of behavioral therapy would be a therapist working with a client to overcome a fear of heights. The therapist would encourage the client to gradually face their fear of heights through experience. The client might first imagine riding an escalator. Next, the client would slowly expose themselves to greater and greater levels of their fear until the phobia diminishes or disappears entirely. Cognitive and behavioral approaches can be highly effective when treating specific problems. Often, cognitive and behavioral approaches are combined when treating a disorder. A therapist treating a client with social anxiety may help the client form more accurate thinking patterns as well as focusing on specific behaviors, such as social avoidance.Cognitive Therapy - CT
Cognitive therapy seeks to help the client overcome difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional thinking, behavior, and emotional responses. This involves helping clients developing skills for modifying beliefs, identifying distorted thinking, relating to others in different ways, and changing behaviors. Treatment is based on collaboration between client and therapist and on testing beliefs. Therapy may consist of testing the assumptions which one makes and identifying how certain of one's usually-unquestioned thoughts are distorted, unrealistic and unhelpful. Once those thoughts have been challenged, one's feelings about the subject matter of those thoughts are easier subject to change. Beck initially focused on depression and developed a list of "errors" in thinking that he proposed could maintain depression, including arbitrary inference, selective abstraction, overgeneralization and magnification (of negatives) and minimization (of positives).Group Counselling
During Group Counselling, group members create a supportive environment together with the Group facilitator. It is the self created supportive environment that often creates a drive toward health and more personal freedom. Within the Group, members are often able to observe other members behavior and give feedback and thereby encourage others to comment of their behavior. This pressure to move forward in a positive direction is a creative force that encourages members to move away from defensiveness and rationalization toward specific personal sharing that is for so many members a new way of being. As Group members assists in the helping relationship, they realize the worth of human relationship and feel less helpless and defensive. Experiences of trusting and being trusted can be extremely effective in meeting the needs of alienated individuals whose fears of our manipulative society have forced them to withdraw or to adopt maladaptive behavior patterns. Giving and receiving of acceptance, assurance and support from others within the group are therapeutic. Bonds of common concern are developed and members begin to develop a positive interest in the growth and well-being of others. This can be a very powerful and significant force in the lives of individuals who have been preoccupied with themselves.Life Coaching
If you have a dream and would like to get to the next level on your journey - or feel unfulfilled, stressed out and tired of the results you are currently getting - we invite you to look into Life Coaching. It will help you feel more in control of your own life and destiny.
How can Coaching help you?
- Deciding on career choices as well as career change
- Creating a more balanced life
- Developing a healthier lifestyle
- Understanding and improving your relationships
- Increasing your self-confidence and encouraging you to be yourself
- Moving you forward on your life path, getting rid of internal & external obstacles
- An independent viewpoint on challenges you are facing
- New solutions and perspectives for uncomfortable situations
- Encouraging you to use both intuition and logic
- Identifying ways to increase your energy
- Getting rid of the things that are bugging you
- Challenging to expand your view beyond your perceived limitation
- Decluttering and organising
- Getting motivation and support
Life coaching has its roots in executive coaching. Life coaching is a future-focused practice with the aim of helping clients determine and achieve personal goals. Life coaches select from among several methods to help clients set and reach goals.
Life coaching draws inspiration from disciplines including sociology, psychology, positive adult development, career counselling, mentoring and other types of counselling. According to a survey of coaching clients, "sounding board" and "motivator" were the top roles selected for a coach. Clients are looking for a coach "to really listen to them and give honest feedback." The top three issues in which clients seek help are time management, career and business.
Humanistic Therapy
Humanistic therapy is based on the following assumptions: Human beings cannot be reduced to components; Human beings have in them a uniquely human context; Human consciousness includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people; Human beings have choices and non desired responsibilities; Human beings are intentional, they seek meaning, value and creativity.Humanistic psychology acknowledges that an individual’s mind is strongly influenced by ongoing determining forces in both their unconscious and in the world around them, specifically the society in which they live. Humanistic therapy holds a hopeful, constructive view of human beings and the individual’s substantial capacity to be self-determining. By and large, this therapeutic approach works with present (rather than past) occurrences and attitudes with a goal of client growth and fulfillment.Person Centered Therapy - PCT
Person-Centered Therapy, also known as Client-centered therapy or Rogerian Psychotherapy, was developed by the humanist psychologist Carl Rogers in the 1940s and 1950s. The basic elements of Rogerian therapy involve showing congruence (genuineness), empathy, and unconditional positive regard toward a client. By doing this, the therapist creates a supportive, non-judgmental environment in which the client is encouraged to reach their full potential. Person-centered therapy is used to help a person achieve personal growth and/or come to terms with a specific event or problem they are having PCT is based on the principle of talking therapy and is a non-directive approach. The therapist encourages the patient to express their feelings and does not suggest how the person might wish to change, but by listening and then mirroring back what the patient reveals to them, helps them to explore and understand their feelings for themselves. The patient is then able to decide what kind of changes they would like to make and can achieve personal growth. Although this technique has been criticized by some for its lack of structure and set method it has proved to be a hugely effective and popular treatment. PCT is predominantly used by psychologists and counselors in psychotherapy.Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic Therapy is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. In this way, it is similar to psychoanalysis, however, psychodynamic therapy tends to be more brief and less intensive than psychoanalysis. It also relies on the interpersonal relationship between client and therapist more than other forms of depth psychology. In terms of approach, this form of therapy also tends to be more eclectic than others, taking techniques from a variety of sources, rather than relying on a single system of intervention. It is a focus that has been used in individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, family therapy, and to understand and work with institutional and organizational contexts.
C/ Fernandez de la Hoz 1
Madrid
Spain 28003
admin
