05.19.06

Your Rights As A Counselling Client (Part 2)

Posted in Emotional Health, General, Health at 4:21 pm by Peggy

We all go through times of difficulty, crisis, loss, tension or uncertainty. Counselling is a service and a support to individuals and families who are facing life issues.

These problems may range from financial hardship, marital discord, stress at work, relationship conflict, child management to crisis of confidence in oneself.

In any counselling intervention, counsellors are guided by a set of beliefs and principles.

These are:
- a belief in the dignity of the human person
- a belief in the uniqueness of the individual
- the respect for confidentiality and privacy
- a belief in the responsibility of every individual to decide and initiate change

As a counselling client, you have a right to:

- have your points of view, decisions and emotions respected, not ridiculed
- know the qualifications and experience of the counsellor
- have the counsellor state his/her professional and objective point of view
- ask to be referred to another counsellor or agency
- be informed of any negative consequences that may follow a particular course of treatment
- expect confidentality of information within the limits defined by the counsellor, the agency, and the courts of Singapore

Qualified counsellors have undergone professional training in both the theory and practice of helping people with life issues. As professionals, they are skilled in structuring and guiding the counselling intervention and are effective in their response to individual needs.

There is no fixed method or approach for helping people through counselling. Instead the counsellor’s personality and professional skills form an important factor in the counselling intervention.

(The above text is extracted and adapted from “Do I need counselling?”, a guide to professional counselling services published by the Singapore Association for Counselling.)

tags: counselling, emotional health, glbt, lesbian, queer, counseling
  • About: Peggy is a qualified counsellor for Sayoni. She is also one of the moderators for Sayoni’s Emotional Health forum.
  • Forum discussion: Emotional Health
  • technorati: counseling, counselling, queer, lesbian, emotional health, glbt

    05.07.06

    What Everyone Needs To Know About Counselling (Part 1)

    Posted in Emotional Health, General, Health at 5:35 pm by Peggy

    We all go through times of difficulty, crisis, loss, tension or uncertainty. Counselling is a service and a support to individuals and families who are facing life issues.

    When do I need counselling?
    when
    - I feel stressed, anxious, confused
    - I am having difficulty in a relationship
    - I need to plan for the future
    - I feel like talking over a problem with someone
    - I need support in my personal or emotional life
    - I want to change my lifestyle or habits
    - I have just experienced a loss, bereavement, trauma

    Counselling is
    - a helping relationship
    - an active listening skill
    - positive unconditional respect for another person
    - an awareness enhancing experience

    Counselling is NOT
    - telling another person what to do
    - solving another person’s problems
    - creating a dependence on the counsellor
    - boosting morale through a pep talk or instilling pleasant feelings
    - taking sides in an argument

    How do I choose a counsellor?
     I would look for someone who
    - makes me feel less stressed and frustrated
    - boosts my self-confidence
    - helps me to make better decisions
    - keeps my information confidential
    - treats me with respect, courtesy and kindness
    - is genuinely interested in me and my problems
    - is knowledgeable, understanding and competent

    Qualified counsellors have undergone professional training in both the theory and practice of helping people with life issues. As professionals, they are skilled in structuring and guiding the counselling intervention and are effective in their response to individual needs.

    (The above text is extracted and adapted from “Do I need counselling?”, a guide to professional counselling services published by the Singapore Association For Counselling.)

    tags: counselling, emotional health, glbt, lesbian, queer, counseling
    • About: Peggy is a qualified counsellor for Sayoni. She is also one of the moderators for Sayoni’s Emotional Health forum.
    • Forum discussion: Emotional Health
    • technorati: counseling, counselling, queer, lesbian, emotional health, glbt

      02.13.06

      Are you living life, or merely just coping with it?

      Posted in Emotional Health, Health at 11:05 am by Peggy

      Life can be quite a roller coaster isn’t it?

      There are moments of lull, of tranquility where the roller coaster seems to have transformed itself into a tame choo-choo train ride for toddlers.

      Then suddenly, without any warning, this tame choo-choo train viciously changes into one demon-possessed hell bound roller coaster ride.

      You know what I mean.

      There are bound to be events in our lives that will knock us on the head and jot us out of our life equilibrium.

      A demanding work project with a super tight deadline; a new boss who seems to have decided to make you the scapegoat for every administrative blunder in the office; a death in the family; making preparations to shift house (from shopping for a new place, renovating the new place, to logistics for moving into the new place); the end of a close friendship; the end of a romantic relationship.

      The list goes on.

      I am writing about the stresses in our lives.

      Sometimes don’t you just wish that things can remain the same, the way it has always been, before the fiasco happened? And bad things do seem to occur all at the same time don’t they? What a conspiracy!
      Read the rest of this entry »

      tags: emotional health, queer, stress, lesbian
      • About: Peggy does not take roller coaster rides in theme parks as she feels that her life journey is already one hell of a joyride.
      • Forum discussion: Emotional Health
      • technorati: lesbian, queer, stress, emotional health

        01.25.06

        Contents of a Love Letter

        Posted in Coming out, Emotional Health, Health, Identity at 12:35 am by Peggy

        This is a monthly column on life journeys, matters of the heart and healthy emotional living by Peggy.

        My darling Wen

        It has been almost a year since you died. I miss you my darling, I miss holding your hand in mine, those long conversations as we walked along the beach, your strong comforting presence next to mine.

        I remember how we first got to know each other in the drama & debating team. We became fast friends due to our similar interests - films, books and music. We mugged together for our first year exams; stayed up late cramming formulas and facts into our heads.

        I never knew, never in my wildest dreams did I guess that I could be in love with a woman. It was the same for you too. But yet, the moment when we realized that our feelings for each other were more than best friends - it just felt so right; both of us agreed.

        Read the rest of this entry »

        tags: coming out, emotional health, queer, youth, lesbian
        • About: Peggy is an ardent student of heartware who happens to be a qualified counsellor. She is also the founder of Ooga Chaga Women, a non-religious support group for les/bi/questioning women. (A better alternative to Liberty League!)
        • Forum discussion: Emotional Health
        • technorati: lesbian, coming out, queer, youth, emotional health