Lydia Counselling

What it Does

Lydia Counselling @ Gateway offers a professional confidential Christian counselling service to residents in the Ashford Borough Council area.

What is Christian Counselling?

A Christian counsellor is a professionally trained counsellor whose Christian worldview, values and assumptions underpin their understanding of human problems when working to help someone with their difficulties.

The counsellor is accredited with the Association of Christian Counsellors and works within their Code of Ethics. This does not mean that you have to be a Christian to be able to use the service and the counsellor will always seek to work from a position of respect, empathy and positive regard towards you.

How Can Counselling Help?

Common difficulties that can be helped by counselling include depression, anxiety problems, understanding and managing anger feelings, coping with loss, low self esteem, relationship difficulties, gaining a better understanding of yourself, or helping you through a difficult time in your life. For instance, counselling may help you look at how the past may have affected your present experiences, or how your current thinking patterns might be affecting your feelings. Some people find having a safe, neutral space to talk through an issue is enough, whilst others find specific therapeutic and creative techniques offered in counselling helpful.

Assessment

All counselling begins with an initial free meeting where you can find out more and decide whether counselling is right for you at this time. If agreement for counselling is reached further regular sessions are then planned.

The Cost

The counsellor works as a volunteer, but there are inevitable costs of running the service. At present it is estimated that the cost of a session is about £10 and clients are asked to make a donation to Gateway Church to cover this. However, clients are not excluded on the grounds of cost.