Types of Counselling

An overview of the main types of counselling available with Anchor, and how each of them works

Why are there so many different types of counselling?

You may have heard of some of the different types, or approaches, of counselling – such as CBT, Person-Centred, Psychodynamic, Mindfulness, etc. Each type of counselling is essentially a different kind of map for understanding the mind, with its own range of map-reading and path-finding techniques. Like any map, each approach generally comes with a wide range of benefits, and some limitations.

Which kind of counselling is best?

Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown that across any group of people, no one type of therapy delivers better results than any other. So although certain approaches may be in fashion at different times, there is no proof of there being one ‘best method’ across a group of people. However, on an individual basis, one approach may just somehow be a better ‘fit’. So all our therapists do their best to adjust the way they work according to each client’s needs and preferences.

What’s the difference between approaches?

We’re not going to try and explain every single type of counselling here (there are over 400 of them!). But the main approaches used by Anchor therapists can be summarised as follows:

  • CBT: Examines your individual cognitive (i.e. thinking) and behavioural patterns, with a practical focus on learning to think in a way that’s more supportive to well-being, and setting strategies to adjust problematic behaviours.
  • Psychodynamic: Looks at the influence of early experiences and attachments that may affect how you approach life and relate to others today, enabling choice and change through deeper understanding and insight.
  • Person-Centred: Focuses on the therapist being completely and empathically alongside you in your current experience, providing an environment where your natural movement towards healthy growth can flourish.
  • Gestalt: Explores how you perceive yourself within the context of your current life situation, working in collaboration with your therapist to help develop an awareness that different choices exist, and overcome the sense of being ‘stuck’.
  • Mindfulness: Develops the capacity to be ‘fully present’ with current experience, allowing your own natural insights and intuition to emerge, and creating a grounding sense of calm to help handle life’s difficulties.
  • Integrative: Views all the various types of counselling as interrelated parts of what it means to be human, weaving different approaches into the work according to whatever seems relevant to the issues you bring.

Most Anchor therapists have trained in a wide range of counselling styles, but some have taken specialist courses or trained more extensively in one particular approach. If you have a preference, you can browse our individual therapist profiles for further detail.

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