Counselling is a process to help you make sense of your thoughts and feelings. A counsellor is trained to listen with empathy (by putting themselves in your shoes). They can help you deal with any negative thoughts and feelings you have. Counselling aims to help you deal with and overcome issues that are causing emotional pain or making you feel uncomfortable. It can provide a safe and regular space for you to talk and explore difficult feelings.
The counsellor is there to support you and respect your views. They won't usually give advice, but will help you find your own insights into and understanding of your problems. The sort of difficulties that people may talk about include: bereavement and loss, life changes, depression and anxiety, stress, sexual abuse, relationship difficulties, ill health etc.
EMDR is a psychotherapy approach designed for working with distressing or traumatic memories. The theory behind EMDR is that many psychological difficulties are the result of distressing life experiences which have not been stored in the memory properly and are said to be ‘unprocessed’ or ‘blocked’. These memories need some help to become processed and EMDR is one way to do this. EMDR is a NICE recommended treatment. Traumatic events may include; accidents, abuse, disasters, violence etc., or witnessing trauma.