Counselling (in the UK)

by Mickey mouse 7 Replies latest jw friends

  • Mickey mouse
    Mickey mouse

    I am considering counselling as I feel I am slipping into a black hole with all of this and could really do with talking it all over with an indepenent "real person" without fear of it coming back to bite me if you know what I mean? I am still in, considering my options but my head is a mess. Sometimes I think this place can be bad for me (although really I know it's the KH that's the problem ) as it stirs up the conflict in my head. What is comforting is seeing so many others going through the same thing. I identify a lot with oompa's posts, feel like we're in the same place really although I'm still active....

    ...so, did anyone else get counselling and how did they go about it? I am in the UK if that makes any difference. Are there any organizations I can go to?

  • Mutz
    Mutz

    After a particularly painful split with a gf combined with health and other problems I was more than a little depressed. I went to see my doctor and asked if I could have some counselling. He arranged for me to have six sessions at the local Health Centre. Six treatments of anything seems to be all you get on the NHS these days but it really did help.

  • quietlyleaving
    quietlyleaving

    Hi Mickey

    I sent you a pm with this message

    Your GP may be able to help you. Tell him how you feel and that you are trying to make a huge life change and ask very pointedly for counselling. I did that and was given 6 weeks spread over 12 weeks worth of counselling by a counsellor attached to the doctor's surgery. It was amazingly helpful. Hospital counselling is different - I think you need to be suffering from something like depression to get that. Also don't leave it too late to get help - as witnesses we tend to neglect ourselves emotionally imo because we are taught to trust in Jehovah. The longer you leave it the worse it could get. take care ql

  • Sad emo
    Sad emo

    If you don't go down the NHS route and want to find a counsellor yourself, make sure they are BACP registered. You can check for registered therapists in your own area on their site:

    http://www.bacp.co.uk/

    Also, if cost is an issue, there may be charities in your area which offer counselling services on a 'donation only' basis. They will give you as long as you need but they do need funding to keep going! Don't be put off if they are church based/operated charities either - I assure you they won't ram their religion down your throat! It's against BACP codes if they do!

    "Practitioners should not allow their professional relationships with clients to be prejudiced by any personal views they may hold about lifestyle, gender, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, beliefs or culture."

    http://www.bacp.co.uk/ethical_framework/good_standard.php

  • nelly136
    nelly136

    if you decide to get 'private specialised' counselling then it would be worth checking out their background and their mission statements, who theyre affiliated to and/or who funds them.

    when i researched counselling a few years back there were a lot of 'cult counsellor' courses , the idea behind a lot of them that you bought their books and paid to go on their courses/workshops and swallowed their 'replacement' beliefs to use on your unsuspecting cult victim clients.

    some of the courses sounded really good, closer inspection showed them to be scientology based or other sneaky little schemes to convert people from one frying pan to another.

  • Gadget
    Gadget
    if you decide to get 'private specialised' counselling then it would be worth checking out their background and their mission statements, who theyre affiliated to and/or who funds them.

    This is an important point. Theres at least one big name cult help group I know of in the UK who's atated aim is to help people out of the group they're in now and into their group......... Also, when I tried to get counselling there was a long waiting list to get my 6 sessions (things had changed by then and so I cancelled them), and the private counsellor couldn't see why leaving the jw's would be so big an issue!

    If your looking for a recomendation a good source of help I found was the cult inforation centre. I spoke to Ian Haworth there and he seemed to really know his stuff. http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/home.html 0870 777 3800.

    A big thing that helped me was meeting others at apostafests. Talking face to face with someone who has been through the same as you and come out the overside helps show the light at the end of the tunnel. Best of all its free! Is there no other posters in your area to meet up with?

    Paul

  • nelly136
    nelly136

    http://www.fair-cult-concern.co.uk/index.html these have an 0845 number too and theyre in uk.

  • besty
    besty

    MM you have a PM

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