I try to meet my clients at the top of my drive, particularly if it is the first appointment. It’s my way of ensuring a cordial welcome with an introductory handshake external to the confines of the counselling room. Perhaps in some naturalistic way the outside gives a sense of freedom, and especially for my client an easy and effective way to break the barrier that first meetings can sometimes create. After all, for many it can sometimes become a momentous task to initiate that first step and reach out for therapy. What will it entail, what will I have to do, how can I disclose my innermost thoughts, fears, maybe even desires? Who and, maybe, what is my counsellor? Will we bond, will I feel comfortable, challenged, threatened, wanted and welcomed? It is only natural and expected for clients to experience any of these emotional questions; anything I can do as counsellor to ease that will always win my vote.

My office is at the rear of the property and not hard to find. But of course, it is important that I lead the way, become, in that first moment, a guide, someone who is metaphorically holding my client’s hand. And those breakthrough steps encapsulate that collectively we are at the beginning of our journey together, an analogy for life to a destination where we seek a world familiar to us with a sense of comfort, recognition, stability and perhaps the most crucial, contentment.

The challenge, of course, is to identify and utilise the best route, a ‘sat nav’ for living that highlights the options and presents both a practical and rewarding path. The hope is that you can discover and ultimately own your personal exploration, continuing on your passage through time feeling safe, loved, and secure.

Until then, the road you take may seem dark. Lifting a phrase from Paul Simon’s beautiful song captures the light that therapy can provide and ultimately banish the darkness:

“Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down”