M.S.M. Counselling.

Local Sexuality Counsellor.

Why Trust Dean Richardson?

Professional Memberships.

Does Counselling Work?

If a main aim of counselling is to reduce distress levels (by bringing understanding to counter fear and raise personal affect), then every client using counselling with Dean* experienced an improvement in their distress levels.

Why Choose Dean Richardson as your Counsellor?

When an LGBT/Questioning person simply wishes to talk things through with an LGBT /Questioning Sexuality Counsellor, Dean Richardson would be that counsellor.

Benefits of Choosing Dean’s Counselling Service.

Travel to Havant, Hampshire.

Am I Gay? Am I Straight?

Discovering attraction to someone of the same gender can leave you worrying: “am I gay?”. However, discovering something new that appears to be about our sexual orientation may not always be about, say, “being gay”.

An example of unconscious processes:

As human beings, our unconscious mind can hold hidden feelings and desires away from conscious thought. Sometimes, these deeply buried feelings can leak into the conscious mind. Our conscious mind, perhaps unfamiliar with such feelings, may struggle to understand what’s going on.

You might think of it like a deaf person communicating to you in sign-language… you could guess what’s being signed, but it’s in a language unfamiliar to you. You try to make your best guess.

So, your conscious mind may be making its best guess to your new feelings. Perhaps it thinks: “… ok, these feelings must mean that I’m sexually attracted to that man”. Such a guess might leave you concerned about being (becoming?) gay.

In psychodynamic counselling: when we look at the message(s) a little deeper we might find a better-fitting understanding than “I might be gay”. Perhaps another interpretation for your feelings might be: “…I’m missing closeness and/or care I used to get from the (a?) man (from long ago … dad?)” or “I’m becoming comfortable with myself that intimacy no longer has to mean sex, so I’m inviting others to come closer to me” and so on. From this, in counselling, we can be curious about what ‘the man’ or “the closeness” could be about. We broaden our understanding through conversation.

Working together can bring greater understanding, leading to much needed relief.

It is, what it is.

The above is just one example of psychodynamic counselling work. Of course, your situation will be unique to you and that’s what you and Dean will discover together.

As the American’s say: “it is what it is” ~ meaning your newly discovered sexual attractions to the same sex may be just that: a simple, sexual attraction to someone of the same gender. And you and Dean can talk about that too.

Dean’s role as a sexuality counsellor is to assist you and support you with your questions… until he becomes redundant to your needs.

Couple & Group LGBT/Q Counselling.

Dean not only works with lesbian, gay, bi and straight individuals, he also works with relationships in counselling. This means he can work with groups of people (from 2 up to around 8).

As a result of training in systemic (family) counselling, Dean can work with couples who wish to work on relationship problems.

He can also work with groups of people (eg a polyamorous relationship) about problems within their their group relationship.

Kinda handy if you’re in, say, a same-sex marriage and are having relationship conflicts.

Or if you’re in a group (business, social, polyamorous etc) and your group needs to work through some difficulties.

The low down…

Experiences with sexuality are all perfectly natural, although they may be distressing when they’re first experienced.

We have various “tags” for sexuality: fluid, static, heterosexual homosexual, bisexual, and asexual, but a tag doesn’t describe your feelings, your experiences, nor how you might deal with them.