Centre for Counselling Bromley

The Centre for Counselling was founded in 1997 and today is one of the longest established counselling centres in Bromley, Kent. It is comprised of over a dozen therapists, counsellors and hypnotherapists of varying approaches. Between us we have over a hundred years of experience in working with all types of issues! Our aim is to provide counselling and therapies in a safe and confidential environment enabling clients to explore issues which may be affecting the way they feel about themselves and their relationships. Therapy increases self-awareness which can often help to alter the negative patterns in our lives. Talking our issues through with someone who is not a family member or a friend can give us different perspectives to the problems we face. An initial appointment will be about exploring what you would like to achieve from counselling and making sure that the therapist is the right person for you to work with as the relationship is one the keys to your success.

We aim to offer appointments within 48 hours of contacting us. Clients can self refer by phoning Jenni on 0208 466 5671. All calls are diverted out of hours so that clients will normally be guaranteed a person at the end of the telephone when they call. Before doing so it would be useful to consider a time of day suitable to meet with a counsellor on a regular basis. If you work full time this may need to be in the evening or Saturdays. Our opening times are 8.30am - 8.30pm. Another consideration might be whether you are more comfortable talking to a male or a female practitioner. Both are available at The Centre. Our web site features a few the available therapists and there might be some one you would like to be referred to. If not then I will offer you the first available appointment with a counsellor who matches your availability and presenting issues.

Cost will be determined by the counsellor's qualifications and length of experience but you can expect to pay in the region of £45.00-£55.00 for individuals and £55.00-£65.00 for couples per session. A session usually lasts between 50-60 minutes. All calls are diverted after hours so you can leave a message and know you will get a response ASAP. Specialist therapies such as EMDR and CBT usually cost a little more but this can be discussed with the individual practitioner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Counselling It's good to talk!

Therapy offers you a safe, confidential place to talk about your life and anything that may be confusing, painful or uncomfortable. It allows you to talk with someone who is trained to listen attentively and to help see things from a different perspective. Usually it will take a number of sessions before therapy starts to make a difference. Because you may be talking about very personal and often painful things, it can sometimes be difficult to keep going. Despite this, it is often worth the effort as you can be helped to work through problems.

Sessions will usually last fifty minutes to one hour. This can be adapted to your needs and should be discussed with your chosen therapist. Many people see their therapist once a week, but the frequency can vary according to your need and the type of therapy being offered.Before you begin therapy, make sure you ask your therapist about the process they are choosing to follow, so that you know what the plan is from the start.

The price of effective therapy is equivalent to a weekly night out or an item of clothing - both of which can make you feel better instantly, but won't HEAL you in the long run. Therapy doesn't change you; however if you are committed to the process and do the work you can develop an inner voice that monitors your actions and reactions. It can enable you to face up to your weaknesses and build on your strengths.

Relationships......

We seek to provide a safe and confidential space to enable clients to gain insight and self-awareness and to explore ways to deal with situations and crises they may be facing. Both enhancing intimacy and helping with separation. Some of the issues couples struggle with could include conflict, communications problems and secrets. Sexual problems in the relationship as well as stuckness in mid-life transitions and parenting problems The Centre offers immediate appointments for couples experiencing difficulties or conflicts that they are looking to resolve within their relationship. A BACP registered counselor will be happy to meet with them and discuss their needs. Sessions last approximately 55 minutes and cost around £50.00 to £65.00 depending on which therapist you see, their qualifications and length of experience.
A sex therapist is also available and this is usually costs a little more.

About Couples Counselling.......

Couples counseling enables couples to explore their relationship and the dynamic that they create within that relationship. It can help to manage the difficulties and enhance the potential of coupledom. Many relationships today are in severe crisis. Divorce and single parenthood are almost becoming the norm. The old idea of staying together solely for security no longer appeals. Today's world encourages us to have what we want and to throw away what no longer makes us feel good. In order for relationships to flourish they need work, courage and skill. Like all skills, these need to be learned. This is a journey through conflict to compassion and greater intimacy. Conflict may feel painful but it is also the agent towards change.We seek to provide a safe and confidential space to enable clients to gain insight and self-awareness and to explore ways to deal with situations and crises they may be facing. These could cover conflict, communications problems and secrets. Sexual problems in the relationship. Both enhancing intimacy and helping with separation. Stuckness in mid-life transitions and parenting problems.

More about counselling and relationships......

Most relationships experience a time of uncertainty and confusion. Couples may look at each other and think, "But you are not who I thought you were!" Or they may look at their loved one and think, "Why did I pick you?" All these doubts and anxieties in a relationship can lead to couples feeling very alone and fearful about their future together. It is at this point they may decide to embark on an affair or take up a new hobby or pastime that creates distance between the partners in the relationship. However they could also seek support from a couple's therapist! Coming into couple counselling at this stage of their lives could enable them to discover a different way of being together. As relationships are living entities, they have a life death cycle, which happens about every seven years. Like all living things they will be subject to 'disease' and ill health! It is at this point they may need the help of a third party to examine the dynamic created by the two people in the relationship! As human beings we all have a longing to be close with another person and yet it can seem so difficult to achieve. It does not stop the desire however and we may go from relationship to relationship in our search.

So what can we expect from relationship counselling? Firstly, unlike 1-1 counselling it is the relationship that is the client not the indivduals. The couple are moving into a new phase, the old way of being together is gone. This is usually very painful to accept and many couples coming to therapy say they 'just want things to go back to the way they were.' But that is not possible or desireable as it no longer works! As with all endings there needs to be a period of mourning and grieving for the loss of the old relationship and counselling can facilitate this process by offering a safe environment to explore the feelings around the issues which have brought the couple to this stage. Most importantly perhaps, counselling can enable a couple to understand thedynamic of the relationship they have created between them. This can be a very enlightening experience but also very painful as blaming the other person for all that is wrong is much easierthan owning our own part in what we create. Coming along hoping that the counsellor will 'sort out' our partner or do all the work on the relationship will lead to disappointment.

Therapy means being willing to identify and own then let go of negative behaviour patterns.

Those seeking couples counselling may do so only when they reach a crisis point. One or other of them has taken their energy and focus out of the relationship; maybe had an affair or a new baby has arrived. Alternatively after many years together bringing up a family the couple feel like strangers; their common ground has shifted. What ever triggers a couple to seek help, in order to gain the most from couples counselling they need to have a willingness and commitment to do the hard work needed in relationship. After all success in any aspect of life involves these. Relationship is no different. By understanding what makes us fall in and then out of love with our partner we are more able to manage the pitfalls and emotions of relationship. Gaining an awareness of ourselves in relation to the other person and having insight into our behaviour and how it impacts can help identify the triggers, which lead to conflict. Conversely those couples who avoid conflict all together may lack any passion or aliveness in their dynamic and feel depressed. The relationship may have more of a sibling quality about it or even parent/child type interactions.As a contextual couples counsellor I work with whatever the couple bring in the context of their relationship. I try not to have preconceived ideas about how things should be between them. I work with what is. They may be looking towork through a difficult time in their lives or be wanting to separate. My role is to facilitate their needs. To support their coupledom and offer a safe and confidential space to reveal itself. I like to start by congratulating them on being there, because they are on the threshold of something different. It is exciting and scary as all change can be but it is so energising too if we can trust our partners, the counsellor and ourselves!

Hypnotherapy

A mentally and physically relaxing experience during which positive suggestions are made to the unconscious mind
Hypnosis is a totally natural state of mind. When under hypnosis you will feel very relaxed, just like that wonderful feeling when you are tired lying in your bed and you are so overcome with comfort that you wish the moment could last forever. Through simple hypnotic, relaxation techniques you can easily attain this state at which time it becomes easy, with the help of a trained hypnotherapist, to visualise yourself becoming healthier, happier, more confident, a non-smoker. Whatever it is that you want to be!
The Centre has both a male and a female hypnotherapist available at a time to suit you. Research
on hypnotherapy has tended to highlight three main areas in which it's efficacy as a treatment has been demonstrated,

1. Anxiety.
2. Insomnia.
3. Pain management.
4. Psycho-somatic disorder, I.e., stress-related illness.

This treatment may also help fears, phobia's, stress, weight loss, smoking, confidence building and many more

'Ships are safe in the harbour but that is not what ships are built for'. Gabriel Roth

In practise, counselling and psychotherapy overlap. But while counselling tends to focus on specific problems psychotherapy is a process of self - discovery based upon a caring and supportive relationship between thereapist and client. As so many of our patterns of behaviour stem from our child hood experiences this can feel risky and a daunting prospect.

Psychotherapy can help us to explore those early years in a safe and confidential environment and thus can be a treatment for many symptoms, including depression and anxiety. When we confront our emotional selves we release new energy and this empowers us to make changes to many negative and repeated patterns in our lives. With the space to be ourselves, the confidential relationship we build with the therapist, we can start to address old conflicts and find different ways of being.

The Centre has therapists who work in a variety of different approaches and are available to offer sessions at a time to suit everyone. Costs will vary according to the counsellor's qualifications and length of experience and can be from £38.00-£50.00 per session which usually last from 55 minutes to an hour and initially are weekly. We offer daytime sessions from 8.30AM and evening up to 8.30PM for the last appointment as well as Saturday mornings.

Counselling children and young adults differs from counselling adults

Counselling children requires a very different approach than working with adults. It involves not only verbal counselling skills but other strategies such as play therapy, and the use of clay and art materials. All of these and more are available to the therapist when working with children enabling them to explore without shame and guilt any events or trauma that might be creating anxiety and being acted out in their behaviour.

The goals when working with children can include not only changing behaviours that are maladaptive, but working through painful issues, and perhaps most importantly enabling the child to feel good about themselves. Each child is different and individual, so the approach and selecting of media or activities must be determined by the issues that need to be addressed. Through these selected media and activities children can feel empowered and learn to manage their feelings and behaviour, thus enabling them to develop healthy social skills and improve on their ability to communicate. It is vital that all clients including children have a safe, supportive environment, within which they can explore issues around the trauma of abuse self esteem and self-harm.

Sara Johnson is our specialist children's counsellor

Higher National Diploma in Integrative Counselling. (BACP accredited)
Sexual Abuse Awareness Training. (Counselling Adults and Children)
Anxiety Management Anger Management
Introduction to Arts as a Therapeutic Process
Rainbows Play Therapy
Degree in Childhood Development Studies

Although qualified as an Integrative Counsellor Sara specialises in working with children and young adults particularly in the area of abuse. She has worked for the charity Family Matters since 2004, offering support and containment to survivors of abuse, focusing on the impact it currently has on their lives. As a therapist her aim is to provide a safe environment whereby the child can experience change by joining in a therapeutic relationship. Sara's training has included working with survivors of sexual abuse, including adults and children.

Currently she counsels children cared for in a special independent school where she tries to provide child protection and a safe, supportive environment, within which they can explore issues around the trauma of abuse self esteem and self-harm. Sara offer sessions here at the Centre for children from the age of five years and upwards as well as adults wanting to address any issues and concerns that they may be experiencing. The cost will be from £45.00 per session.

Some Words to Ponder Over........

1 As I walk down the street,
There is a deep hole in the pavement.
I fall in.
I am lost ….I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find my way out.

2 I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the pavement.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't MY fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3 I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the pavement.
I see it is there.
I still fall in…it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is MY fault.
I get out immediately.

4 I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the pavement.
I walk around it.

5 I walk down another street!

Group psychotherapy

Group therapy can benefit people who are experiencing a wide range of difficulties including depression, eating disorders, problems with relationships at home or at work, sexual identity, feelings of inadequacy, lack of fulfilment isolation and so on.

Group psychotherapy, like individual psychotherapy, is non-directive. The role of the group facilitator is to develop the group’s awareness of itself as a powerful agent for change. Members can become skilled in making connections between unconscious processes and the way they think, feel and act. This happens because the group comes to represent for each member a microcosm of the world each inhabits. Membership of the group can offer alternative ways of dealing with pressures and challenges which may be explored safely within the group setting. Understanding what each person brings to the group and the way each relates to fellow members, everyone is encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions and ultimately for the resolution of the problems that led them to seek help.

Group meetings are confidential and members are discouraged from socialising outside of the group. From time to time the Centre for Counselling will offer group therapy and this will in the form of weekly meetings of between 1-2 hours. Participants are encouraged to commit for the life time of the group which can be anything from 6 months to 1 year.

Consulting Room Services for Therapists and Counsellors.

The Centre provides therapy facilities within an appropriate and conducive atmosphere in the 4 spacious therapy rooms. All rooms are carpeted have central heating, comfortable chairs and low level lighting. Their sizes vary from a smaller one to one room to larger group/couples rooms. Included is use of a kitchen with fridge kettle and microwave, separate seating area, male/female WC facilities. Our welcoming reception area has seating where your clients may wait for their appointment. Sessions are available Monday to Saturday between 9.00am 9.30pm. Last appointments should be at 8.30pm. The Centre is easily accessible by public transport with both Bromley South and Bromley North stations within walking distance. Frequent buses to the surrounding area stop outside. For those with private transport, pay and display parking is available nearby (free after 6.30pm.)

All counsellors are asked to provide information about their approach and ways of working with clients and this should be in leaflet form which is displayed in our reception area. We also have a referral system and clients will be matched to you according to your chosen working hours and their availability.

Practitioners are offered an initial 4-week trial commitment. (This is to establish that the Practitioner feels comfortable working at the Centre and, similarly, the Director feels able to refer clients to the Practitioner.)
1. The basic monthly fee will be £200.00 (plus a £200.00 refundable deposit in the case of new Practitioners.) This fee entitles each Practitioner to make online room reservations via their own PC or lap top from wherever they are in the world! As well as payment towards monthly room rental, which will be dependant on the number of hours used. This fee is subject to an annual increment (October yearly)
2. The monthly fee is payable 4 weeks in advance by Standing Order.
3. a) The current room rate is £11.00 per hour and is also subject to an annual increment as above. Example; if you have booked the room for 40 hours in a month then you would have to pay over and above the £200.00 monthly fee. b) Room rates must be paid regardless of personal or public holidays. c) All rooms booked must be paid for and may NOT be cancelled without a minimum 24 hours' notice. There is a separate arrangement for those wishing to use the rooms on an ad hoc basis and this is subject to a fixed fee of £15.50 per session payable on the day.

Welcome to the links and bulletin page for the Centre

What you think about us

Here are some of the responses from clients who have experienced couples counselling with Jenni Camplin

My husband and I arrived at the Centre for Counselling in Bromley about 20 months ago with our marriage in a state of disrepair, Jenni has very gently, and when needed directly, guided us across the great divide that lay between us. She managed to help us to start communicating with each other, but more importantly how to listen and consider the other persons point of view. The tools that Jenni has helped us to find have transformed our marriage and let the sun shine into our daily lives where before it felt like there was just darkness. I am deeply grateful to her
(name and address supplied)

Thank you for seeing us again today, it has helped us enormously to do this and thank you for being so patient with us, in what must have also been a challenging journey for you, not knowing what we might do next! Your style of counselling has been very effective in bringing us back and reminding us (or me) where we are going wrong, and enabling us to try and conform, which I think is beginning to work. I know we said today would be a final meeting but I didn't really feel we had reached that place yet and I am truly grateful for the flexibility with which we can continue to see you.
It has been a difficult journey, but I feel that a journey in life will always be a positive and challenging experience. Thank you once again.
(name and address supplied)

We started to come to see Jenni Camplin last year because we needed to improve our relationship. We were struggling to escape from a negative cycle. Seeing Jenni explored our past and the effects this had on our relationship and the way we communicated with each other. We were also coming to terms with not being able to have a baby which we had wanted for over two years. Jenni encouraged us to express our feelings in a safe environment encouraging us to listen and respect each other. With her help we talked about experiences we had not shared before.

Now a year on we closer than ever and expecting our first baby in six weeks. Without the support of Jenni neither of us feel our relationship would be as close as it is today.
(name and address supplied)

From time to time The Centre has special events or programmes, which will be listed here. We also have a selection of articles that may be of interest and these can be accessed by clicking on the links below. We have also added some useful links.

How Relationship Counselling Can Assist Couples

Osteopaths in Bromley
http://www.osteopath-help.co.uk/osteopaths/cranial-osteopathy/uk/kent/bromley

Osteopaths, registered with the General Osteopathic Council. Fully equipped clinic. Friendly staff. Great patient feedback. We treat patients of all ages from babies to the elderly. In addition to classical osteopathy we also specialise in cranial osteopathy for babies, kids and adults.

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