Thanks for visiting!
My name is Julie Pryke. I am a qualified and experienced counsellor/psychotherapist. I provide a confidential counselling service in the Chester and North Wales area.
If you are looking at this website, perhaps you are either considering counselling ( ie. what it is and whether it is for you), or you are looking for a counsellor who will best suit your needs. Either way, I hope you can find everything you need here to answer your questions. If not, just give me a call,text or e-mail.
What is counselling?
Counselling is very simply, talking to someone who is trained to listen. A counsellor's way of listening is called active listening, which means listening to you with absolute concentration and helping you unload your thoughts with a little professional guidance. It is not telling you what to do or solving your problems for you, more helping you to help yourself, which is more rewarding for you and equips you to help yourself in the future. A counsellor is someone with whom you can share a problem, without being judged or having to worry about their feelings AND you can be sure of confidentiality.
Counselling helps you get your life back on track, or simply your life back. You will get as much out of counselling as you are prepared to put in to it. This means being as honest and open as you can be.
Working together, we can address a host of individual problems such as anxiety, depression, low self esteem, anger management, relationship problems or just look at your life in general - whatever you want.
Choosing a Counsellor
There are lots of counsellors for you to choose from, but just how do you choose? Making the right choice can be the difference between a good and bad experience and whether the counselling is successful or not. Some of my clients have related horror stories to me about their experiences with previous counsellors - so please take care!
The first step is to look for qualifications and experience, then look at the approach used - this means how they work. If you dont know what the approach is or what it means -find out, by simply asking the counsellor or doing some research of your own.
What are they are saying and how they are saying it? Does it make sense? Does it appeal to you? You will be sharing some extremely sensitive material with your counsellor, can you trust this person with it? Will they take care of you, keep you safe?
So why choose me?
I have over 15 years experience of working with people and their problems, covering a wide spectrum of subjects and I hold a Masters degree in Counselling Studies.
Research has shown that the most important aspect of any counselling approach (and there are over 400), is the client/counsellor relationship. My clients tell me I am warm and friendly and easy to talk to, with a good sense of humour (when appropriate). All of which help me to relate well to my clients. A good relationship with your counsellor will help you benefit more from counselling and encourage you to go deeper into your problems, deeper within yourself, to find resources you never knew you had.
Counselling can be hard work, but we will work through it together and by working through it we will share times of light relief. I believe you can enjoy your counselling sessions AND get the results you want. Some people dread their counselling sessions, because their counsellor makes them feel uncomfortable or they have little faith in their abilities. So it makes sense to make sure you are with the right person.
As I believe working with the right person is so important, I offer a free initial assessment session, so call or e-mail me now, you have nothing to lose and maybe much to gain.
For more information about the way I work, my background and qualifications, please click here
