
Simone Harch
Integrative counsellor and psychotherapist
Tel: 07850 467 782 Email: simoneharch@hotmail.co.uk
Simone Harch
Integrative counsellor and psychotherapist
Together we will make positive changes in your life and build a brighter future.
Be supported and heard by a non-judgemental, compassionate professional.
People come to counselling to get help with problems or difficulties in their life. Challenges are often psychological, social or physical in nature. Some of the challenges you experience may be:
Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from difficult or demanding circumstances. While stress can motivate us to achieve, too much stress may lead to physical and mental health problems.
We all experience life adversity. How we deal with that adversity is different for all of us: many coping skills are healthy (talking to friends or family, exercise, self-care, doing pleasurable activities) but often people rely on unhealthy copying strategies (food, alcohol and/or drug use, self-harm, emotionally unregulated behavior) which may lead to additional problems.
Self-esteem refers to the overall opinion we have of ourselves; our sense that we can do things successfully; and the value we place on ourselves as people. Self-esteem can hold a positive or negative tone overall. Our experiences create a foundation for views we hold about ourselves. These can distort our self-esteem and may cause us to believe that we are unworthy or unable to live a happy and fulfilled life.
Anxiety is something many of us experience from time to time. It is a normal response to situations that we find threatening or frightening. For example, if we had to sit an exam or speak in front of a room full of people, it would be natural to feel anxious. Sometimes, however, we feel anxious when we’re not threatened or frightened and we need to learn techniques to overcome these unhelpful responses.
Depression may cause us to experience low mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy and poor concentration. It doesn’t stop us from leading a normal life but makes everything harder to do and seem less worthwhile. At its most severe, depression can be life-threatening, leading to suicidal thoughts.
All relationships have ups and downs. Sometimes though, things can get a bit stuck and it’s hard to find a positive solution or see a way forward. Problems that may exist within a relationship can include increased arguments and conflict, trust issues, financial issues, communication problems and how to progress the relationship.
Our early family experiences drive our core beliefs about ourselves: this includes what we believe about the roles we perform and the expectations that we hold about ourselves. As our lives and personal situations change, the roles and expectations we hold can build resentment and dissatisfaction and may cause challenges personally and within family relationships.
Work is a significant part of life for many of us. For some it allows ambitions to be realised; for others it pays the bills. Challenges at work can include relationship problems, deadlines, workload problems and internal politics, all of which may cause stress. Some of us may want to make change but are unsure how or what direction to take.
Families are systems of inter-connected and inter-dependent individuals. Sometimes, functioning within families can be challenging, especially when there is conflict between parents, in step or blended families or when parenting children with complex needs (including adopted and fostered children).
Grief is the natural response to the death or loss of someone close. It may also relate to the loss of an unborn child. For others, the death of a much-loved pet brings feelings of grief. Loss may relate to redundancy, ill health, or a change in life circumstances; it may also relate to a person who is alive but not accessible to us any more (for example a parent who has dementia). While loss is a natural part of life, sometimes it can feel overwhelming and may lead to additional problems.
Physical trauma, for example a car accident or life-changing injury, can bring pain, loss and depression. It can lead to problems within relationships, at work and within family units. Physical trauma can make us feel powerless and out of control within our own lives and/or bodies, often leading to increased anxiety.
Disease or illness, of ourselves or a loved one, can cause huge changes within a relationship or family. Becoming a carer to a loved one, or being cared for, brings many changes within an established relationship. If disease or illness is terminal there may be feelings of loss or grief.
Many of us view self-care as a selfish act, choosing to spend our waking hours on work and/or family responsibilities. Many of us struggle to prioritise our own health and well-being. Self-care has wide-ranging benefits including improved self-efficacy, improved resilience and improved mental health.
Sleep plays an important role in both physical and mental health. Many issues can affect our sleep patterns and we can easily get out of the habit of knowing how to fall asleep. This can become a cycle that is difficult to change and has implications for many other parts of life. Learning a new routine to encourage better sleep has wide-ranging positive implications for mental and physical health.
Infertility is when a couple, or individual via IVF, cannot fall pregnant. For those of us who choose to be parents, this inability can be crippling, causing not just feelings of grief but also depression, guilt and anxiety. Often there are also choices to be made regarding attempting (or stopping) IVF treatments and considering adoption to achieve the dream of parenting.
Traumatic experiences rarely impact just one area of life, instead these experiences often have psychological, social and physical implications – sometimes it can feel like our entire being has been overtaken.
These experiences may include an accident, an assault, domestic abuse or difficult childhood experiences.
Simone and I started counselling sessions during a dark period in my life following a car accident and new motherhood. I was struggling with a selection of post-trauma symptoms and helplessness as a new parent. Simone gave me a safe space – both online and then in person – to disentangle my feelings, voice them,…
A near fatal brain injury brought about years of mental health struggles for me, which I’d tried and tried to figure out alone and with the help available to me, but often with little continued success. Having found Simone and her counselling (at a pretty desperate time), I was able with her structure and guidance,…
I started to see Simone when I found myself struggling to know what was reasonable behaviour, and feeling like I’d lost myself behind someone else’s needs, which wasn’t helping either of us. After a couple of sessions of me blurting out my litany of woe, Simone worked with me to identify underlying patterns in my…
I decided to see Simone after realising that events I had experienced in my life were impacting my overall levels of happiness. I was scared of talking about things that had happened, for fear of these things overwhelming me. Simone offered me a safe and calm place to talk and reflect. I didn’t feel rushed…
After six months of various levels of COVID lockdown, I was slipping into a near permanent state of anxiety and my normal coping mechanisms were nowhere to be seen. I found Simone, and within a couple of weeks of contacting her, was lined up with a video call appointment. She somehow sifted through the garbled,…
I started to see Simone after a long period of difficult family events . I have never considered counselling before but recognised that I had reached the end of my reserves . Simone was reassuring and able to pick some key themes that ran through my current situation, and also my management of stressful events…
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