It’s been a few months since the country went into lockdown, and I ceased to see people in person at my counselling room. In that time I have continued to counsel online by webcam and by telephone.

I’ve been keeping up to date with the number of cases and the reported R value of the virus, the reduction of the corona virus threat level to 3, and noting which parts of the economy have been reopened and the safety measures that have been put in place. Although many businesses that require proximity to other people, such as hairdressers and chiropractors, have returned or will soon to seeing clients and patients I have decided that I am not returning to in person counselling yet.

What are my reasons for this:

• cases have begun to increase in our European neighbours and we may expect something similar to happen here
• I want to see the impact of the current and proposed opening of businesses and resumption of activities before going back to in person work
• I feel I have an ethical responsibility to not do something that may undermine a client’s well being without an exceptional reason
• concerns for my own well being and that of people close to me

I am not sure when I will return to seeing clients in person, I assess the situation on a week by week basis. I do continue to see clients online and by telephone and see this as the major focus of my counselling work going forward.

Stay safe and well.

There are many groups of people who may be concerned about the spread of Coronavirus, in particular people who are living with long term illness. Some of these people may have been attending counselling in person, and may now be unsure if they need to reconsider this. At present the number of infections in the UK is very small, however it is sensible to consider what you might want to do if you are in a vulnerable group, or may have been exposed to the virus and are in quarantine.

The good news is that counselling need not be put on pause while you consider what you need to do in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. Actually counselling may help you decide what is best for you if you live with illness. Althernatively it may help if you feel your concerns are causing you anxiety and may be disproportionate. Illnesses with this sort of widespread media coverage may exacerbate health anxiety.

If you are seeing a counsellor regularly talk to them about what you might do if one or both of you are quarantined. I already see clients online and by phone and can easily transfer an in person session to online if the circumstances need it. All we would need is an additional agreement to cover the fact that we are using an electronic device to communicate rather than being two people in a room.

Finally, it is good to make practical preparations in case you can’t or don’t want to meet in person; but not so healthy to worry about all the things that could happen. If you find yourself doing find out about mindful techniques to help with worry.

opening up opportunities

Counselling online is still something of a novelty for many, even though it has been around for some time. Also known as e-therapy, e-counselling or online therapy it is growing in popularity and more counsellors and counselling services are offering it. As internet speeds improve, and the availability of superfast internet connections gets extended, counselling using the internet becomes useably available to more people.

how is online counselling done?

Counseling can be by email, short text based services, voice over internet, or webcam.

text based

Email and text based services often have a delay between someone writing and the counsellor responding,. The exception is when counsellor and client are using an instant message service.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Sigmund Freud conducted therapy by letter. Email and text based therapy can be seen to be following in his footsteps.

camera and voice

Webcam and voice only counselling are done in real time. Webcam counselling is the nearest to face to face counselling because the people involved can see each other. This can be used to counsel more than one person, for example a couple who are in different locations.

Voice only counseling can be done using voice over internet or landline or mobile phones.

who is it for?

E-counselling is for anyone who wants the convenience of being able to access counselling from their own home. This can include people who:

• find it difficult to get out;
• have domestic responsibilities that make it hard to be out for long;
• Students;
• travel for work;
• are ex-pats who want someone who speaks their own language and understands their culture of origin

a little but

Online counselling is not for everyone. Anyone thinking of counselling online needs to be comfortable with the technology. For safety counselling online is not considered a safe medium for people who have significant issues with self harm or suicidal thoughts.

People who are considering counselling through the internet need to consider if they can be somewhere where they won’t be overheard or their correspondence read by someone else.

Available now

Julie Millar counselling offers online webcam and voice only counselling. Contact me or follow this link to my website for more details

About Julie

Hi, I’m Julie, and I’m a counsellor based in Chester.

I am in my fifties, grew up at the seaside and love sunshine and tea. My superpower is curiosity. I am quiet and open, and listen with my heart as well as my ears. I particularly work with people who have lost something precious to them; a person, an animal, a dream… Or who have experienced abuse and now question their own selves or their value. People who are hurting or confused and want something to change.

I trained as a counsellor at the University of Chester. I used to be an accountant although I realised I like people much more than numbers. I’ve been a hospital chaplain, and it was this that led me into counselling. My passion is to be alongside people as they navigate through the varied sea states of life, from flat calm to raging storm.

Please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram. I post about a variety of topics to interest you.

It is Father’s day in the UK later this month. For many it is a time when they can thank their Dad for his care and support, and celebrate the important role men play in families. However, it can be a difficult time for some people. This article outlines some of the reasons why Father’s day may be difficult, and what you can do to help yourself.

Your Dad has died

It can be hard to see others buying gifts and going out for family meals for Father’s day if your Dad has died. Seeing the cards in the shops can be a painful reminder of your loss.

You don’t know who your Dad was

Knowing who are parents were and something about them can be an important part of forming our own identities. For many years the name of the father did not need to be disclosed on a birth certificate, and so a person may never know the identity of their biological father.

This is not a new experience. A number of people born during or just after the Second World War don’t know who their Dad was, because of the stigma of births outside of marriage at that time.

You don’t get on with your Dad

Family breakup and strained relationships may mean that you don’t know your father as a person, or you don’t get on. You may look at the relationship other people have with their Dads and wish for something similar for yourself.

You wanted to be a Dad

There may be many reasons why the dream of fatherhood may not have been available. It may be through health issues, or not having a partner who also wanted to be a parent. This is a loss of a dream, and it can be hard to see other people with their children.

You are a Dad but don’t see your children

it can be very hard to see other men spending time with their children on Father’s day if you are not in contact with your own children.

Looking after yourself

The first step is acknowledging your feelings of loss, regret or sadness. You may be feeling angry. Burying feelings or pretending they don’t exist doesn’t make them go away. All feelings are valid, its what you do about them that makes the difference.

Do what you need to do. This may include:

• visiting your Dad’s grave if he has died
• spending time with friends
• making your own ritual to mourn lost relationships or dreams
• buy a card and write in it what you’d like to say to your Dad

Talk to someone you trust, and who won’t judge you for how you feel.

A message for men who find Father’s day difficult

You don’t have to Man up. Men are human. Humans have feelings.

Counselling can help

Counselling can help you sort out how you feel, express those feelings in a safe and supportive environment, and help you decide what you want to do about how you feel and your relationships to others. Contact me to find out more about how counselling can help you.

Imagine you never saw a photo of your late loved one again? How would that feel? I don’t have a lot of photos of my Dad because he was usually behind the camera. But I have some (like the one with me as a baby above), and because many were taken in a pre-digital age I have them on paper and I’ve taken digital copies. That’s because they are precious to me, and are part of my memory of my late Dad.

lost memory banks

A recent media report highlighted that for some people this memory bank of our late loved ones, and our history with them, may be lost. It was reported that a man had stored all his photos online, as many of us do. Photos he had taken of his wife and child. When he died his family were unable to gain access to the photos. It was easier to gain probate for physical property and shares than it was that memory bank of photos.

memories of love

Photos like the one above form part of our own history. I have no memory of the day this photo was taken, with me on my Dad’s lap on a bench. What this photo does is remind me of the love and care I received from my Dad, that he supported me from my earliest years, even before I was old enough to understand all that he did. I could know this without this photo, but it is a strong emotional reminder of that love and care. Photos are a reminder of things we did together, our shared history. That family lost this link to their shared history with their lost loved one when they were denied access to his photos in the cloud.

losing part of yourself

I do know exactly where this photo was taken and that there is still a bench there. However I’d never be able to replace it. I am an adult, not the baby in this photo, and both my Dad and my Mum who took it are dead. Without the photos I lose a part of myself, of the family and environment that contributed to who I am today

many sorts of loss

When someone dies we recognise that loss. There are social conventions around loss in most communities. Yet losing, or being denied access to, photographs is another form of loss, that may compound the loss. The impact of that loss may not be recognised by others.

helping the living

Recognising the impact of losing a memory bank of photos may have on bereaved people, even a long time after their loved one has died, is something we can do for the living. We can also find out how to put our own digital world in order to minimise the loss to those who love us. This link gives information about how to contact the main social media and online content providers after someone has died.

https://www.bereavementadvice.org/topics/registering-a-death-and-informing-others/how-to-contact-different-services-digital-legacy/

Julie Millar is a counsellor in Chester.

She grew up at the seaside and loves sunshine and tea. She listens with her heart as well as her ears. She works with people who have lost something precious to them; a person, an animal, a dream… And people who have experienced abuse. People who are hurting or confused and want something to change.

Julie’s superpower is curiosity.

Follow Julie on Facebook and Instagram where she posts on a variety of topics.

How many of us hold onto the idea that we are not creative? Perhaps we think that allowing ourselves just to be with paint or craft materials is only for children? And that if we make something it has to reach a certain standard to be deemed valid and a good use of our time?

art at school

I certainly got the message at school that I was no good at art, and so I soon started disengaging. My ‘art’ reflected this. I painted an iris in front of a brick wall, my entry to paradise was the gates to a junkyard. So I secretly read the NME under the desk in art class instead. I have to say I liked my art teacher, I just didn’t meet the school art standards and there was nothing else to offer kids like me.

creativity doesn’t need to be art

Now if I had been told that doing embroidery was creative, or making macrame plantpot holders was creative, I might have absorbed a different message about myself. Creativity takes many forms. It can be art, or writing poetry or novels; it can be crafts, making clothes, cooking. I found creativity in accountancy, not in cooking the books (!!), but in the sense of making something coherent out of apparent chaos. Being creative is part of being human.

creative adults?

When we think about being creative with things such as paint, felt, stones, embroidery it seems we can go three ways: things that have a value that qualify as art, that appear in galleries; things that are exemplars of a craft that are admired as such; and things made by children. It feels that if you are not an artist, a craftsperson or a child creativity is something adults don’t to. It’s not proper adulting. Well actually it is. Why should we stop expressing ourselves just because we have grown up bodies?

the quality standard

We live in a world where we are constantly invited to compare ourselves and what we are and do to others. Too often we find ourselves wanting. This can come up in allowing ourseslves to be creative. We can look at what other’s do and find our creations lacking. That may reflect an underlying sense of inferiority, or a sense of not being worthy. You don’t have to share what you do with anyone else unless you want to. And what others do is their expression of themselves, you are expressing you.

making things tells us about ourselves

When we let ourselves engage in something that touches that creative part of us we may also find things about ourselves that we had forgotten or didn’t know. When I decorated the mask you see at the top of this post, I used what materials that were immediately at hand. Reflecting on that I see myself as someone who tries to make the most of what I have. My decoration is very minimal, and I painted the lips a colour you might not expect. This led to the feeling that someone else may not like the mask, and more deeply may not like me. On the inside I wrote “do you like me?”. And that brought me in touch with a part of me that said “too bad if you don’t!”. Having a balanced view of ourselves can help our mental health.

a sense of personal achievement

Making things can bring a sense of achievement. I recently made a simple skirt and pair of trousers and felt the satisfaction of making something I could wear what reflected something about me. Making something that is useful or beautiful to you, or doing something you simply enjoy doing, can bring a sense of achievement and personal satisfaction. Those are reasons enough to do them.

creativity in counselling

Counselling is seen as a talking therapy, however it isn’t only that. Creativity in the counselling room can help people understand themselves better, celebrate the varied qualities they have, and get back in touch with the child’s joy of being absorbed in making something.

The mask and stones were decorated by me at a Creative Counsellors’ skill share event.

Hi, I’m Julie, and I’m a counsellor based in Chester.

I am in my fifties, grew up at the seaside and love sunshine and tea. My superpower is curiosity. I am quiet and open, and listen with my heart as well as my ears. I particularly work with people who have lost something precious to them; a person, an animal, a dream… Or who have experienced abuse and now question their own selves or their value. People who are hurting or confused and want something to change.

I trained as a counsellor at the University of Chester. I used to be an accountant although I realised I like people much more than numbers. I’ve been a hospital chaplain, and it was this that led me into counselling. My passion is to be alongside people as they navigate through the varied sea states of life, from flat calm to raging storm.

Please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram. I post about a variety of topics to interest you.