Not once but twice.....

by Chmaine
(Manchester)

I went to a recommended and well known counselling centre with my husband as we were going through very bad times. My husband has never been a talker and we were relatively young then with two small children.

The counsellor from the start basically told my husband that his reactions were that of a 'bully' and 'emotional blackmailer' ....this is pretty much how the session went. At the end we were told to make another appointment and sent on our way with no regard to any consequence of her words and accusations. Whilst my husband is not abusive, there are many that would potentially have been exposed to some form of abuse or be vulnerable due to how they were handled. Not only would it be the wife but the husband, as mine was, would feel very bruised and hurt from such words from someone whom he was turning to for advice.

Years later I took my daughter to a session which ended up being in the same building. Whilst it was not the same counsellor, I feel again that the level of professionalism was poor. She looked scared to death of any emotion shown and we found she kept repeating the same point without much progress. I decided to keep my well earned money and help my daughter through a change in approach to how she was feeling.

Hopefully this seems to have worked... and I am now a trainee counsellor .. who will be mindful not to adopt the same approaches and actually consider how the clients may feel from the input and impact of my words.