I have to touch upon a ‘touchy’ subject
with some people here, ‘money’
While some
have a good relationship with money, others do not, sometimes, through, no fault of
their own, health problems, unable to work, there are as many varied hard luck stories
as there are people. Whatever the 'story' lots of people genuinely need some help, and may not have the money to get it.
There's usually a lot of shame and guilt around ‘not
having the money’ or taking benefits or even 'accepting' help!
I’m reading some horrendous stories about ‘tax
credits’ in the UK, just being taken off people with nothing, and them being made
homeless, referred to a telephone ‘counsellor’, except they are not
professional counsellors at all. One
telephone so called counsellor told someone to go outside and have a cigarette?
I came across this as a counsellor, many years ago in a 'proper job', with
mergers being made, I was offered another position as a ‘counsellor’, BUT it wasn’t for a
counsellor, it was for a ‘Addictions worker’.
Yes, I could’ve applied for the job and probably got it, being an ‘insider’,
and continued to take my ‘reduced’ monthly ‘living’ wage, but nevertheless, a ‘wage’.
I was appalled, of this idea!
True, some
of them, who took the jobs, were proper counsellors, but, to work with others that had no professional
training, just threw me a huge ‘curveball’.
You may say, I could’ve made a difference, on a ‘living wage’, but
here’s the thing…
I would have had to ‘renounce’ my
professional capacity as a counsellor
UNLESS, I worked part time, on top of a
full time job, to fund being a counsellor.
If a counsellor ‘stops’ working, they cannot just ‘start’ again, it has
to be continual, unless you don’t mind not being a member of a professional
body.
With expenses of training over 5 years in
the first place to be qualified, monthly supervision, Insurance, being a member
of a professional body BACP, marketing, counselling directory, website, domain
name, continual professional development (a stipulation of the professional
body BACP) office supplies, Office rental, Tax, Accountant – All these expenses
are not cheap.
I’m not complaining here, only in that,
some people are NOT getting the help they need NOW. It’s such a tricky one, we as counsellors,
cannot help ‘friends’ or people we know, and cannot work with anyone without a
monetary exchange. I've occasionally
found myself in the grey area of this, well arguably facebook ‘friends’ are
people you don’t really know anyway, but THEY FEEL you could just switch
on your counsellor hat for them, and quickly solve a problem?
It’s an anomaly of counselling that, only if
you’re a counsellor, you would understand?
It’s a bit like expecting a doctor to do an
operation on a moving train?
It’s not
the time or place, and the profession has strict boundaries to follow that
cannot be broken, because, otherwise counselling just doesn’t work - A doctor needs all the history of the patients illnesses, risk issues, mental and physical, all the details, life story etc. The same goes for a counsellor, It's not something you can sort in an instant, of course that depends on how complicated the issue is, and how honest a client is first of all to themselves.
Where am I going here, well, yes the people
that need the help don’t usually have the money, but I don’t feel offering my
time for £5 an hour is ever an option to be able to continue being able to
afford being in my job! I’ve seen this
done in some places, I believe it cheapens the profession, and is saying to
government funding, that its okay for counsellors to pay all their expenses and then
just work as a ‘volunteer’?
I’m attempting here, to tell it exactly how
it is
Of course I do concessionary priced sessions, but most of the
clients I have, are working, so they enable me to be working too! I also, do have a very small percentage of
funding available to me, for those who don’t have any money left to deal with their
issues, so if this fits you, then please do get in touch with me.
I believe, it is so important to get the
help you need when, you need it. It is
brilliant to ‘be positive’ in the most awful circumstances, BUT not if you’re
just ‘avoiding the issue’ It isn’t going
to get any better, by burying it, I know that.
www.absolutelyfabulousminds.com/
I know too well the feeling of shame, or
guilt
Believe me, that is a huge mountain to get up and over yourself, on
your own. Sometimes, you need to ‘let it
out’ otherwise it’s like a human volcano, that is going to erupt, and possibly
put you in a dangerous position.
You are better than that, YOU can do this,
I do believe in YOU, and I CAN help and enable you…
It’s just a question of ‘if you’ll allow’
yourself to realise, there is an ‘issue’
That needs dealing with, and this can
take many years sometimes, but until you do, you’ll be like a ‘bouncy ball’ and
you’ll never really experience being truly ‘happy’.
What is the point in that?
Especially, when I can apply for the funds for YOU to get the help you need...
So please get in touch 01686 430503 / 07922828903
Counselling can be face to face in the Mid Wales area, or Skype or phone
