Havant Private Counselling Dean Richardson MNCPS(Accred/Reg)

High Acceptance, Low Dissatisfaction Rates

Our counselling relationship begins with an initial evaluation session (you evaluate me, and I evaluate if you might work well with my approach). In our first session, we will have some conversations and decide whether this early experience appears to have been beneficial enough to continue working together. Sometimes, extra evaluation sessions are agreed upon to help make a more informed decision, but this has been regularly unnecessary.

Two measurements highlight how people respond overall to my style of counselling: Acceptance Rate^*2 and Dissatisfaction Rate^*3.

During the previous twelve months (November 2023 to October 2024) my Case Measurement Rates have been:-

*1) measuring over the last twelve full months.
*2) the percentage of clients who continued to attend sessions (for at least one month) after their initial session(s). NB: some clients complete their work in a shorter time than one month; others find that a longer path benefits them.
*3) the percentage of clients who, from their experience of the initial session, felt that the service was not what they were looking for.

The average number of sessions per case is not included here. Because one client's needs differ greatly from another's, a fair comparison cannot be made. No figures are included where the clients were satisfied with the initial session and decided that this was sufficient.

How to Choose a Counsellor.

You may be wondering how you will choose a counsellor (or, possibly, a life-coach).

It may help you to know that different therapists offer different services in different ways. Counsellors are human beings (honest!), so we all have different personalities and we do our work in slightly different ways to each other, even though we may have common training. It’s the mix of services, approach and counsellor’s personality that may make one counsellor more suitable for you than others.

It’s the relationship that you and your counsellor will build together that make therapy helpful and supports the changes you’re looking to make.

Just like your friends, you’ll find you get different things out of different friends. It can be helpful to bear this in mind when you meet with a counsellor for the first time; he may feel right for you (and sometimes he may not – but that’s OK when you think that this is possibly the most authentic relationship with another human being you’ll encounter in your life).

Interview your Therapist.

My advice to you: interview the therapist. You don’t have to pick the first counsellor or coach you meet. You don’t have to get it right with the first counsellor. Plan to meet two or three for one (or more) session(s) each. Each counsellor will have things they need to learn from you in the first session (so they sometimes may take the lead) but you’re also there to evaluate the counsellor (so sometimes you’ll have questions you want to ask).

You might ask:-

If you get a distinctly unsettling feeling about the counsellor: try and put that into words (and notice how you feel when the counsellor responds to what you’ve said – this may be very helpful when you decide to work with this person or not). Sometimes a therapist may have a good reason not to answer your question, but do you get the sense of them having a good reason or a sense of a therapist who is avoiding answering you.

Trust your Instincts.

Trust your instincts when they say: “this seems to be the right person”, even if your head says “I didn’t like him”.

Your head may be telling you what you want… but your instincts can be telling you what you need.

At the end of the day, you’re looking for someone who not only respects you as you are now, but who will be respecting the person whom you wish to become (and/or the parts of you you’re looking to repair or transition). You may need someone who can sometimes challenge you (without challenge maybe nothing changes), and who will support you (“be there”) throughout your therapy work.

Choose someone who you’d like and trust to take along with you on your therapeutic journey.

Dean’s Approach to Counselling.

Different counsellors practice different models of therapy. They use different theoretical frameworks. Each has their own style on how they do this.

Dean Richardson has more than 25 years experience and his approach as a private practice counsellor will not be like you’ve seen on a television drama, or on Celebrity Big Brother, or anyone playing the part of (their imagined version of) a counsellor.

What’s Required of You.

To work with Dean in private counselling you must be capable of looking after yourself and your needs (emotionally, symptomatically etc.) in-between counselling sessions. If you believe that you will wish to make ad-hoc contact with Dean in between sessions then Dean is not offering the counselling service you believe you’re looking for.

Change Requires Courage. You will learn about yourself in counselling with Dean. You may not like what you learn or hear. It can be helpful to have a source of courage (and/or resilience) to hear and learn about yourself. Having your own support network (friends, family) is helpful though not essential.

Commitment: you must prepare to attend weekly sessions until the work is done sufficiently to leave. Ad-hoc “when you feel the need” attendance, or repeatedly cancelled sessions renders this venture ineffective.

What’s Required of Dean.

As a private counsellor, Dean’s philosophy is that you are the solution to your ailments. But at some deeper level you have forgotten that you have this autonomous resource. Perhaps early experiences in your life may have influenced your present inaction & inability. Perhaps trauma or defensive behaviour (the idea that your current behaviour is the one that will keep you the most safe) keeps you unchanged.

The counselling work may look into how your present position came about. A primary aim: to provide knowledge and understanding in order to release you from your current story. Released so that you might be able to begin writing a newer story going forward.

Core techniques may include:

If you’re seeking someone who will effectively join you in seeking knowledge about your difficulties, who will work alongside you as a kinda-of temporarily “partner in crime”, and if you’re prepared to put in a similar amount of work into this arrangement as the counsellor will… then Dean could be just the counsellor you’re looking for.

Important Points to Note.

Does Counselling Help… really?

If a major purpose of counselling is to reduce distress levels (by bringing understanding to counter fear and raise personal affect), then, yes, counselling works.

During a period that CORE was used for measured outcome, every client using counselling with Dean* experienced a reduction of distress and an improvement in their CORE-34 measurement levels.