Mental and emotional distress covers many different kinds of unhappiness. For example it might be a deep and lasting sense of fear or depression; it might be a wish to harm oneself, a puzzling and disturbing anxiety or a sense of being unbearably alone.
Each person is different and so one person’s distress will be different to another’s. Many of us feel uncomfortable with the idea of mental health problems and emotional difficulty and it may be hard to talk to family or friends about how we feel. Sometimes things get in our way and we start to feel powerless and our mental health may deteriorate.
In this context, counselling can help by giving us a confidential, safe and regular place to to think and talk about difficult experiences and feelings. We all have valuable internal resources to call upon, but sometimes we are unable to make use of them without the help of an understanding counsellor.