What to expect from Counselling

What can I expect from my Counsellor?

Many people who seek counselling are unsure at first about thier rights in a counselling relationship.

You can expect that your counsellor will:

treat you with care and consideration
provide you with information about what to expect in counselling
listen to your story
not understimate the impact of your experiences on you
believe you
respect your strengths and help you to identify and develop them
provide you with a physically and emotionally safe environment
respect your sexuality, cultural and religious background, class, age, your opinions and choices, and respect your decisions and needs
provide information
be trustworthy
treat you aas a unique individual, not only as a survivor of child sexual assault

Your counsellor should not:

touch you sexually
have a sexual relationship with you or any of their clients, either while you are currently seeing him/her or after the counselling has finished
encourage any romantic feelings for him/her
tell you what to do, think or feel
make you do anything you are unsure about or do not want to do
rush you into talking about things you are not yet ready to discuss
tell anyone else about the content of your counselling sessions without your consent (unless there are safety concerns)

Talking about sexual abuse with a counsellor may help you get in touch with feelings and issues you have not dealt with before. These might include:

anger – this might be toward the abuser, toward yourself for not stopping the abuse, or toward your mother/father/guardian (if they were not the perpetrator) for not protecting you
memories and feelings about the abuse
trust difficulties
self blame
feelings of over responsibility
sexuality
body image
fear
assertiveness
loneliness
alienation
issues about parenting your own children
relationship issues
body feelings and/or symptoms

A counsellor can help you explore these issues.