NOW YOU’RE TALKING

counselling with a difference at Park Attwood Clinic

When we experience illness, a crisis or some other challenge in our lives, we nearly always experience a degree of emotional and psychological distress along the way. We can lose a sense of meaning in our life or our sense of direction and purpose, and feel disconnected and disorientated. Counselling is one way of helping to re-focus and re-orientate. At Park Attwood Clinic in Worcestershire, patients are offered counselling with a professionally trained counsellor as part of their overall treatment that combines conventional and complementary medicine.

Within a relationship of trust, a patient can experience healing as the counsellor works with the patient on the struggles and difficulties that are being experienced. At the heart of the counselling work is the belief that what we encounter in our life - our biography - holds some meaning and that there is potential for greater understanding and insight at these often painful moments in our lives.

Counsellor Annette Gordon recently joined Park Attwood Clinic, working alongside the team of conventionally-qualified doctors and nurses and complementary therapists, sharing a common approach to health care known as anthroposophic medicine. This addresses health in a truly holistic way. It recognises that wellbeing is not just about fitness of the physical body but also psychological health and spiritual growth.

Annette’s background is varied and colourful, and she is well placed to help with the wide variety of patients she sees at Park Attwood – who may have mental health problems but who are equally likely to be receiving treatment for cancer, or chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, musculo-skeletal problems, cardiovascular or neurological disorders, or at the clinic for post-operative care or convalescence after major illness or injury. Some patients may be receiving palliative or end-of-life care and need exceptional support.

Annette has worked as a bereavement counsellor and in general practice. She subsequently trained as a biographical counsellor, studying the anthroposophic approach that underpins the other therapies offered at Park Attwood. This form of counselling is not a method, it’s a wider orientation that colours the work, as Annette explains:

"Patients at Park Attwood have all sorts of problems, but the common denominator is that they are all meeting a challenge. A part of what the counsellor is trying to do is to identify the question that is rising up within the patient at this particular time in their life. Questions such as "Why me?" or "Why is this happening again?", or "Where do I go from here?". The patient is helped to come to terms with this question, and consider various solutions and options."

"Biographical counselling approaches things slightly differently from other forms of counselling, although there are similarities. There is perhaps more emphasis on finding meaning in what patients encounter, whether illness or life crisis, and to see that there is the potential for growth and personal development. This could appear to be patronising if not carefully handled, but we try and help patients identify the patterns or common thread that weaves through their life, things that keep cropping up from time to time. This may be asking for change, or it may be something they can embrace and draw comfort from. Recognising the pattern and becoming aware of it is a significant step in itself. Common things patients consider are "Have I developed this as a way of coping?" or the question could be "Do I tend to let other people sort things out for me?". When these kinds of questions are addressed, it is then possible to see patterns that are not helpful."

"A lot of patients have to confront new issues, and counselling offers a safe, reassuring environment where difficult questions can be raised. Looking at the patient’s current dilemmas can bring up unresolved aspects of the past. Recognising patterns or things they want to change can help them deal with the future. Some patients find the future daunting, because they are significantly changed by illness. Most draw great strength from going through counselling and it can play a significant role in their recovery. Many health centres and hospitals are not equipped to accompany patients like this, it is hugely rewarding to have the opportunity at Park Attwood to do this".

Counselling at Park Attwood Clinic costs from £30 for a single out-patient follow-up appointment, but can also form part of a complete holistic healthcare programme for anyone requiring in-patient care (which may be funded by the NHS in some cases, depending on the policy of your local health authority or PCT).