About OCS Counselling

During the process of Counselling at OCS, you will receive supportive listening and fresh insight. We will hold space for you to be seen and heard.

Our Online and Telephone Counselling Service provides support for a wide range of issues, culturally sensitive therapy and counselling for students and companies.

What does individual Counselling involve?

Counselling involves communicating with a trained Counsellor, in a safe and confidential atmosphere. Your OCS Counsellor’s role is to support you to explore and express your thoughts, feelings and experiences. You will have space to heal and grow.

Counselling can help you to increase your clarity about:
• The scope and impact of your problem
• Your beliefs about the problem
• The kind of changes you want to make
• The kind of life you want to build
• The kind of person you aspire to be to build the kind of life you want
• Your blocks to becoming the kind of person you aspire to be

Counselling may include:
• Learning to feel your feelings.
• Having a safe, non-judgmental space.
• Celebrating wins and good news.
• Attending to the sensations in your body.
•  Exploring grief and trauma.
• Venting, sharing and sitting in feelings.
• Remembering that joy can exist amidst pain.
• Being validated, seen and heard.
• Gaining a new perspective.
• Feeling your insight grow.
• Obtaining new skills and tools for coping.

Is it normal for Counselling to feel uncomfortable at times?

In therapy, you will take risks and try novel ways of thinking and behaving. It’s crucial to choose a Counsellor that you can trust so that if any temporary discomfort strikes, you feel safe enough to let down your walls and examine the cause. Though it can be a briefly painful time, discomfort is revealing and useful. Often it signals a problem area for you and exploring it with your Counsellor can be a catalyst for profound change.

The Counselling relationship provides a secure, non-judgmental and supportive environment for you to express your thoughts, feelings and frustrations. Counselling can feel uncomfortable at times because it involves change. It's’ part of the growth process and like most change, it takes place outside of our comfort zone.

Being in Therapy is empowering although, for some, it can be tough at times. Expect to leave some sessions feeling elated and clear on so many things. On other occasions, you may be in reflective mode, feel annoyed at yourself, uncomfortable recalling your past, feel worried talking about your current situation or be concerned about your future. You might even temporarily be annoyed at your Therapist. This doesn't mean Counselling isn't working, it’s part of any transformational process. Remember you are being honest and transparent, we may not always like what we recall, learn or discover about ourselves or our experiences.

Discomfort doesn't tend to last, there are many benefits of having Counselling

You may be nervous because you're new to counselling, perhaps you're sharing something sensitive or you're not used to expressing your emotions. Most clients feel relief after opening up. For many, being uncomfortable does not last. People get used to the setup and before you know it, they look forward to their therapy sessions as they have so much to share, vent, ask and want to work on. They see the progress and want to delve deeper. It's not often that we have time to talk to someone and offload with the focus being on ourselves and nothing else. It is something we can all benefit from. 

In Therapy, we aim to change how the story of our life continues. The key is to communicate, be fully involved and trust the process...things tend to really improve. You get to have a healthy bond with a caring and compassionate Counsellor who is rooting for you. That trusting relationship is also helpful to those who have not had healthy attachments. Therapists can assist you to become emotionally and mentally healthier. Counselling is effective and millions of people's lives have changed for the better because of it.

Therapy is empowering because you can:

• Be honest, be heard, seen and believed.
• Get another perspective.
• Have the focus on you.
• Be supported and encouraged.
• Review life events and traumas so you can heal.
• Stop reacting from old wounds and begin to respond from a place of awareness.
• Consciously choose different ways of being in the world that reflect your values.
• Allow someone neutral to really see and accept you.
• Unleash your pain.
• Talk about any issue, concern, thought, feeling or fear.
• Heal, stretch and grow.
• Learn to be compassionate with yourself.
• Enhance yourself, your life and your relationships.
• Have a support system, someone who truly wishes you well is committed to helping you feel better and do better.

During the Counselling process try to:

• Give your Counsellor access to the real you. This means being totally honest and vulnerable.
• Take down the barriers you have built to protect yourself. Only when you remove them can you fully reveal your true thoughts and feelings. As a result, you will receive honest, useful feedback.
• Give your Counsellor feedback. Tell him/her your experience about what you found helpful/unhelpful at the end of the session. Providing this feedback enables your Counsellor to better meet your needs.
• Periodically ask your Counsellor to assess your progress with you (if your treatment is long term).
• You can maximise the benefit you get from your therapy by devoting time to your growth between sessions as well.

Your responsibility
While having a good Counsellor is important, what you actually do with your Counsellor is just as important. Therapy is not passive. It requires your active participation, motivation and commitment.

Before every session try to:
• Reflect on your goals for being in therapy
• Think about the next step you want to take to get closer to reaching your goal.

To create the life you really want, you will have to prioritise your therapy and your growth. This process is different for each person but it may mean spending some of your free time differently, tolerating temporary emotional discomfort in the name of lasting change, and being open to change

Be open to change
You are entering Counselling for support and guidance as you make changes in your life. Since how you have been living (thinking, behaving, etc.) is no longer working for you, it is time to take your life off of autopilot and try something new. Take a step toward change and receive some support.