Counselling Services

Abuse is relatively common in our society, and many people will experience some form of abuse in their lifetime. Abuse can leave psychological wounds that are harder to heal than bodily scars and injuries. The maltreatment can be physical, verbal or emotional, and it happens when one person misuses their power to harm or control another person. All types of abuse can cause pain and psychological distress.

Abuse counselling can help victims address the symptoms and impact of abuse, overcome challenges and move past their traumatic experiences. Abuse counselling also facilitates healing for victims, helps with the establishment of healthy boundaries and assists victims to take back control of their lives.

Feelings of anxiety can be overwhelming, and sometimes anxiety can turn into panic attacks, causing hyperventilation and an overwhelming sense of fear. Common signs of anxiety are:

• Feelings of being on edge or restless

• Not being able to sleep

• Becoming easily irritated

• Experiencing hot and cold flushes

• Loss of appetite

• Fear, panic and feeling afraid in normal situations

Feelings of anxiety and fear can be very hard to control on your own, and you might need professional help to address these challenges.

Anxiety counselling assists with giving you skills and strategies to cope with the stresses of daily life, helps you recognise the triggers that cause anxiety and teaches you how to overcome fears to lead a more satisfying life.

Today, children and young people are faced with many challenges:

• Family issues and conflicts

• Parents' separation and divorce

• School issues

• Bullying

• Grief and loss

• Family violence

• Anxiety and depression

• Self-harm

Children and young people counselling assists young people to deal with strong emotions, addresses specific behavioural issues, facilitates healing and helps with low self-esteem, lack of confidence, anxiety and depression.

There are many reasons to pursue individual counselling:

• Coping with grief and loss

• Handling depression

• Lack of self-confidence

• Psychological trauma

• Wanting to learn more about yourself

• Overcoming the obstacles that keep you from achieving your goals

Regardless of what challenges you face in your life, individual counselling focuses on your wellbeing by assisting you to manage these challenges, set SMART goals and implement changes that add to the quality of your life.

Couples and marriage counselling assists people to adjust to changes in their relationships when moving in together, getting married, having a baby or experiencing difficulties in communication and understanding each other.

Many relationship problems can be resolved through actively participating in relationship counselling. Through early intervention, Dare to Stand Counselling can help couples or individuals identify the underlying causes of relationship distress, resolve conflicts, and rebuild the trust, mature bonds and boundaries needed for healthy relationships.

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Leo Tolstoy

Each family is faced with its own unique problems and challenges in life. If those issues are left unattended, they can eventually cause much distress and misunderstanding between family members. Some of the common issues families face:

• Interpersonal conflicts

• Lack of parenting skills

• Separation and divorce

• Abusive behaviours

• Sibling conflicts

• Blended families

• Anger

• Grief and loss

Family counselling helps identify the causes of disagreements and issues, explores the thoughts and feelings of all parties involved, models positive and fruitful communication within the family, strengthens bonds between members, explores ways to resolve conflicts with win–win outcomes for all parties involved and establishes healthy boundaries.

"Deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if somebody can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope." — Elizabeth Gilbert

The death of loved ones may impact many aspects of a person's life. This could trigger anxiety attacks, depression, denial, confusion, sadness and anger.

People might also experience grief and loss due to the break-up of relationships, loss of friendship, loss of childhood through traumatic events or loss of employment. Grief and loss counselling assists people in getting through a difficult time by helping them accept their feelings as normal and valid. Through counselling, people acknowledge that they need time to come to terms with their loss and learn strategies to cope with overwhelming feelings and emerging thoughts.