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 as an 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)

    • Issues that may come up in counselling

    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.