Stress is often seen as the response to the pressures and demands of life. It also includes the emotional and mental aspects and is experienced as thoughts and feelings, as well as in the body. You can also think of stress as the internal response to external pressures. Our counsellors not only help with stress in Plymouth, but they also address other mental health issues that have developed as a result of coping with high levels of stress over a period of time.
Stress has evolved into a form of the fight and flight response, which is a reaction to physical threats to one’s life. It shows itself in different ways, depending on your individual situation, this could be hypertension, stroke, diabetes, chronic pain and heart attacks. Symptoms of stress include headaches, insomnia, fatigue, lack of motivation, tiredness and feeling overwhelmed and so much more. Stress is not always caused by something negative either, it could be as a result of moving to a new house, having a child, getting married and other events. One way to cope with stress is through exercise. This releases endorphins into your bloodstream and is one of the reasons why you always feel good after going outside. Meeting up with friends and family has also been shown to help mental wellbeing in general, because these would be people that you would get along with and want to spend time with.
The start of managing stress is understanding what triggers stress for you. Whether it is through life changes, unexpected events or something else, we can help you begin to understand the main triggers and how to manage them in the future.
One of our counsellors that has experience in dealing with stress is Mark. As someone who has sought counselling for himself before, Mark understands the importance of being able to speak to someone who can offer support and advice. Mark worked at Relate for four and a half years and in that time helped individuals, couples, young people and whole families deal with issues, such as anxiety, bereavement bullying and stress (work and individual related) and he was able to help them with stress in Plymouth, in order to work through their concerns and find a way forward.
A typical counselling session at Horizon Counselling Services takes 50 to 60 minutes and is ideally weekly. This is because counselling requires consistency in order to reap the best reward and to be able to see your progress. You can contact your counsellor outside of your sessions, however your counsellor will set out when you can contact them. We provide an initial consultation for £25 and then following sessions are £50 for individuals and £70 for couples and we offer a 10% discount to all armed forces and emergency personnel, NHS staff, university staff and students. All our counsellors are trained to listen to you, your thoughts, feelings, and opinions and then will give you some strategic ideas to use in the future. All our sessions are confidential, unless we believe that you are a risk to either yourself or others.
During our counselling sessions, we are often asked ‘What is therapy?’ Therapy is the process of helping someone address their problems in a positive way to help them clarify issues and develop strategies to help in the future. A counsellor is trained to talk someone through an issue and focus on what really matters. People often use therapy and counselling to mean the same thing, and while a therapist and counsellor have similar jobs, counselling is usually for someone who needs treatment short term and a therapist will treat someone long term to help them through deeper issues.