Jo Cooke Counselling

BACP registered counsellor specialising in supporting children and families

Online, telephone or face to face counselling

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The coronavirus pandemic and Government restrictions on leaving your home have made face to face sessions very difficult to continue so I have started offering online and telephone appointments. I will also continue to offer face-to-face sessions at the present time.

Even though we’re not in the same room, I can still help you to explore how you’re feeling, understand what you are going through and support you to make changes in your life if you need to.

You may find that online or telephone counselling appointments are easier for you to access or fit with your lifestyle or working hours better than face to face.

 

 

 

Why talking therapies work

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Talking therapies are treatments which involve talking to a trained professional about your thoughts, feelings and behaviour. There are many different types of talking therapy, but they all aim to:

  • give you a safe time and place to talk to someone who won’t judge you
  • help you make sense of things and understand yourself better
  • help you resolve complicated feelings, or find ways to live with them
  • help you recognise unhelpful patterns in the way you think or act, and find ways to change them (if you want to).Therapy can help you manage and cope with:
    • Difficult life events, such as bereavement (losing someone close to you), or losing your job.
    • Relationship problems.
    • Upsetting or traumatic experiences, whether it’s something recent or something that happened a long time ago.
    • Difficult emotions, such as grief, guilt, sadness, confusion, anger and low self-esteem.
  • Difficult emotions, such as grief, guilt, sadness, confusion, anger and low self-esteem.
  • Depression and anxiety.
  • Other mental health problems. Talking therapies can help with a range of diagnoses, and specific talking treatments have been developed for some mental health problems.
  • Long-term physical health problems.

Some people think that therapy is an extreme option and that unless things get really bad you should try to manage on your own. But this isn’t true. It’s ok to try therapy at any point in your life, whatever your background.

In fact, getting support from a therapist when you’re not at crisis point can be really helpful – it might feel easier to reflect on what’s going on, and could help you keep things from getting worse.

Hello, I am Jo

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Hello, my name is Jo Cooke and I am a qualified Counsellor registered with BACP.

I am a mother of two children (one about to start at university, and one recently graduated) and have worked in education for nearly 30 years.  It is these experiences that have led me to decide to qualify as a counsellor five years ago.  

Several years ago, I felt that I had lost touch with myself and needed some support and guidance to find my way again. I found a counsellor on the BACP register and successfully worked with her. I came to look forward to my weekly sessions, to have someone to listen to me for 50 minutes,  who never judged, questioned or disbelieved me. There were never any consequences of what I shared with her. She was consistently warm, empathetic and full of compassion for my situation.

I have much to thank her for.