MRG Counselling

Counselling, Hypnotherapy and Mind techniques are designed to support you to manage the life changes which you aspire to achieve, enabling you to lead the life that you choose. Positive Personal Change.

About Margaret R Gibson

I am a qualified, experienced counsellor, registered with BACP (Regulatory body for Counsellors and psychotherapist) I have an Advanced Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. My counselling experience over the years has included a GPs practice, University Student Counselling, Online Child Counselling (Childline) online Parental Counselling (Parentline), Perinatal Depression Service (Crossreach,) NSPCC Schools Service “Speak Out Stay Safe“, Individual private clients and couples.

In addition to being a counsellor I am an experienced, and qualified Hypnotherapist and Mind Techniques Practitioner (CBT, EFT, NLP, mindfulness).

I am registered with TISPH (The International Society for Paediatric Hypnotherapy), NCH (National Council for Hypnotherapy} CNCH (complementary and Natural Healthcare Council). I have an advanced diploma in Applied Hypnotherapy and Mind Techniques, a Diploma in Paediatric Hypnotherapy and Hypnotherapy Practitioners Diploma, Certificate in Weight Management- Release Me and Diploma in CBT for depression, fears and phobias.

I also have a variety of ongoing short term personal development courses keeping me fully updated with current practice.

Counselling

What’s involved in counselling

Integrative counselling is a talking therapy which collaboratively engages you and the counsellor in exploring the feelings emotions and behaviour attached to life events which concern you. A strong rapport builds between you and the counsellor as you construct genuine trust resulting from being treated with empathy, acceptance and valued as a unique individual. The counsellor adheres to the BACP code of ethics and confidentiality which is a critical element in the relationship. Once you feel safe and secure talking about your life you will gain the ability to observe your own behaviours and make decisions about constructive behaviour and emotional changes. The role of the counsellor is to facilitate your understanding of yourself and the inner conflicts that present in your life. The decisions relating to change come from you, the counsellor will rephrase your descriptions and use your language describing your feelings and emotions to promote clarity and understanding of yourself. You make the choices and decisions the counsellor’s focus is to build clarity and understanding.

Anxiety, depression, low self -esteem, anger, confidence, lack of trust, grief, sadness has been shown to positively respond to integrative counselling. The uniqueness of YOU requires a distinctive approach to change the negative thought patterns that run your life.

ANXIETY

Everyone suffers from Anxiety on some level.

Changing the way you see and interact with your immediate world can help you become more positive. Anxiety is built upon negative images stored from past experiences. Today’s reality may be different than from the original event and your anxious behaviours no longer apply. Counselling and Hypnotherapy can help.

AUTISTIC STRATEGIES

Children and adults described as presenting features of Autism vary dramatically. I individualise Self-management and emotional behaviour strategies to support self-regulation and independence. Family members also benefit from personal therapy focusing on managing the life stresses that autism can bring.

LEARNING NEEDS

Specific strategies and adapted programmes build on your own abilities. Increasing self-confidence and developing a positive personal belief system can benefit from Counselling and more directly with hypnotherapy.

CONFIDENCE

The belief in your own ability can dictate how you behave. Your beliefs are a product of what you heave been told about yourself. If you can view yourself from a different perspective change can occur.

CHILD ABUSE SUPPORT

I have experience of working with several children and adults who have been abused in the past. I am very cognisant of the enmeshed difficulties when working in this area. Complete confidentiality, personal safety and security are intrinsic to all my work.

DEPRESSION

Depression can range from mild to severe. Long lasting profound unhappiness should be checked with your doctor as there could be harmful outcomes if not treated appropriately.

Counselling and Hypnotherapy have been shown to be effective in the management of depression.

EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS

All ages can be affected by emotional problems that arise in daily life. Exploring the issues worrying you through counselling may provide the insight required to make personal changes. Hypnotherapy can offer physical and mental relaxation. Suggestions made to the subconscious mind for positive change can be given through hypnotherapy.

GRIEF MANAGEMENT

Everyone’s response to grief is unique. I provide individualised support to understand the emotions that arise. I offer in depth support at particularly challenging times of sadness and distress. Details on request.

INSOMNIA

Not having enough sleep destroys the brain’s ability to focus and concentrate daily. Hypnotherapy is particularly beneficial for insomniacs. Personalised individual recording of sessions and relaxation scripts for home use increase the level of success, for both children and adults.

FEARS & PHOBIAS

These can cause debilitating behaviours for an individual. Most fears and phobias immediately change the body’s defences mechanisms making you panic and want to escape. These immediate response behaviour patterns overcome all the sensible arguments and produce fear. Using NLP rewind technique fears, and phobias can be reduced. I offer” The Rewind technique” approach.

ILLNESS

Fear of terminal illness and long-term disablement can be destructive for the person concerned and their families. Counselling focusses on the what the individual can do and wants to achieve. Life is viewed from the attributes rather than the deficiencies, but both are addressed. Families need as much support as possible through these challenging times. I offer intense packages of support when appropriate.

NEGATIVE SELF BELIEF

People with a negative self-image see themselves as worth less. Changing that self-belief can be helped through CBTH where positive life experience evidence is gathered helping to minimising past negativities. CBT approach provides hard evidence of the changes made during sessions and can be reinforced through homework activities set in more natural surroundings.

NEW PARENTS

Change happens with the arrival of a new baby. Relationships, responsibilities and work patterns are dramatically altered at a time when you feel unsure and physically exhausted through lack of sleep. Counselling can help you understand why such a small baby can change so much for both partners. Hypnotherapy provides self help and relaxation at this complex time.

PERSONAL MOTIVATION

Stress, illness, broken relationships and family breakdown cause a loss of motivation. How do you keep going on when these issues are in your mind? Consistently attempting meaningful tasks, working to a programme, improving life style help change the whirlpool of self-destructive thinking and behaviour. Mindfulness brings a positive lifestyle change which you live your life by. Issues addressed in counselling may be more easily accommodated through mindfulness. Self-love, relaxation, self-help and motivation benefit from various hypnotherapy approaches to facilitation positive life changes.

PAEDIATRIC

The advantages of using hypnotherapy with young children are that there are no side effects and parents are aware of everything that is happening to the child. Parents play an active role in the therapy by repeating recordings at home to reinforce the change suggestions. When children are anxious and in despair so are the parents. But when a child demonstrates hope and mastery so do the parents

PUBLIC SPEAKING

To stand up in front of an audience can be terrifying for some people. There are routines and approaches used in NLP and Hypnotherapy which quickly build a person’s confidence, making delivering a presentation another personal skill. The focus becomes related to the task not what the anticipated problems might be.

PERINATAL DEPRESSION

The journey through pregnancy into parenthood demands life changes across the entire family. The overwhelming change and additional responsibilities of a new-born can be daunting. In addition to these changes the emotional and physical change which arrives with the baby can be exhausting. Not all parents enjoy the experience of these challenging life events. I have a depth of knowledge and experience in working with new mums, dads, couples, grandparents and brothers and sisters

RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS

Listening to what a partner is saying, and feeling is the basis of relationship counselling. Establishing a conducive environment for open discussion allows sharing of understanding and past hurt in a safe setting where clients begin to speak more truthfully about past events.

SCHOOL PHOBIA

Children do not attend school for various reasons. As a teacher I have worked with many individuals where school was too challenging, they perceived that they were being bullied and that they were not like the other boys and girls. Children must feel safe and secure to enable their learning. Knowing the limitations of flexible schooling allows me to realistically facilitate therapeutic support for the child and family

SELF HELP

Ultimately in any therapy the individual and therapist end their sessions. I aim to develop unique self-help programmes for clients. Using recordings of relaxation, phobias and positive suggestions. The initial therapist led sessions can be reinforced at home. The client learns to adapt the materials for their personal needs. The client becomes increasingly their own therapist.

SMOKING CESSATION

Smoking is an addiction that only the client can break. Hypnotherapy can play a significant role in reducing the misplaced thinking and behaviour behind the need to smoke. The client must be committed to change for themselves. There are several strategies to reduce and quit smoking. The approach I would use would be over 2 or 3 sessions depending on the client’s participation level.

SPORTS PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT

Mental rehearsal, positive visualisation, calming techniques can be introduced quickly through Hypnotherapy. Relaxation and mind calming allow a performer to play at their highest levels without negative thoughts interfering.

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT

Do you over or under eat? Have you any idea why you overeat? These are a few of the questions I would ask at an initial assessment meeting. The eight week Release Me hypnotherapy course aims to educate you about your own eating, looking at some of the reasons you might be eating inappropriately and any other influences that should be considered. Suggestions made in Hypnotherapy sessions provide support to sustain your new life style. You must want to change for yourself.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is an immensely valuable approach which works on the body’s own defence patterns to bring about change. The use of deep relaxation to reduce the driving control of the conscious mind allows the subconscious mind to accept change. The subconscious mind controls the involuntary functions of the body such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure but crucially contains memories of every life event that you have experienced. Depending on the experience the subconscious mind will establish a reactive behaviour. This response may be composed of many competing influences with a resultant misbehaviour attached to the stimulus. Phobias, Habits, Sleep difficulties, excessive weight gain, Stress, self-harm are examples of mismatched responses. Hypnotherapy uses suggestion with the subconscious part of the mind to reroute the response behaviours into acceptable positive outcomes.

There are many negative associations with Hypnosis which are unfounded. Stage Hypnosis is not Hypnotherapy. In hypnotherapy you are free to accept or reject suggestions, you are aware of everything that is happening around you, you are in complete control and can stop a session at any time, you are not asleep. You will feel relaxed and comfortable, you will always be perfectly safe and secure, you will be able to drive after a session, you will have a sense of hard work and wellbeing. You may become aware of progressive changes in attitude, behaviour and attention as the subconscious mind reroutes the brain neurons.

Mind Techniques

Mind techniques are a group of strategies that can be used in conjunction with counselling and Hypnotherapy. They focus attention on changing immediate troublesome behaviours. Stress, Phobias, Smoking, panic attacks are dramatic responses to a stimulus. Taking control of these unwanted behaviours and interrupting old thinking patterns and feelings, is effective in reducing the self-harm effects that have developed. Interruption can be achieved by repetitive strategies from Neuro Linguistic programming, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Emotional freedom Techniques, Mindfulness, Self-hypnosis. The different approaches have unique rationales for their effectiveness, they have all been shown to benefit individuals with individualised results.

These strategies can be used to enhance self-help programmes which are incorporated throughout programmes of therapy.