Seeking help and finding the right support for your mental health can be a significant step. To assist you in making informed decisions and addressing any questions you might have, we’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions.
Whether you’re exploring counselling for loneliness the first time or seeking specific information about our services, this FAQ is designed to provide clarity and support.
Counselling can be a valuable source of support if you’re experiencing persistent loneliness that affects your emotional well-being and daily life. If you often find yourself crying, feeling irritable, withdrawing from social interactions, seeking companionship desperately, or struggling to communicate with loved ones, it might be time to consider counselling.
Sometimes we have blind spots, believing we’ve done all we can; counselling helps you see your world from a different perspective. Counselling is a collaborative process where your input and feedback are valued. Together, we’ll find the best ways to support you on your journey towards a more connected and fulfilling life.
Persistent Loneliness
If you feel isolated despite trying to connect with others, counselling offers a supportive space to explore the causes and/or develop effective strategies for managing loneliness.
Difficulty Forming Relationships
Finding it hard to establish or maintain meaningful connections? Counselling can help uncover any underlying issues and build skills to create healthier relationships.
Life Transitions
Major life changes like moving, changing jobs, or ending a relationship can heighten feelings of loneliness. Counselling provides guidance to help you adapt to new social contexts and navigate transitions smoothly.
Social Anxiety
Social anxiety can prevent you from engaging with others, exacerbating loneliness. Counselling teaches techniques to manage anxiety, boosting your confidence in social situations and reducing isolation.
Loss or Bereavement
Grief can deepen feelings of loneliness, especially without a strong support network. Counselling offers a safe space to process emotions, develop coping strategies, and rebuild connections after a significant loss.
Low Self-Esteem
A negative self-perception can hinder your ability to form meaningful relationships, contributing to loneliness. Counselling helps explore self-esteem issues, challenge negative beliefs, and build a more positive self-image.
The right time to consider seeking counselling varies depending on your individual circumstances and needs. Generally, it might be time to seek counselling when you’re experiencing difficulties that impact your emotional well-being, relationships, or daily functioning. Having someone to share and reflect on your experiences with can often be beneficial.
Ultimately, the decision to seek counselling is personal. Reach out for support when you feel ready and motivated to make positive changes in your life.
What You Might Have Tried Before Considering Counselling
Counselling offers a safe, supportive space to explore your challenges and work towards lasting solutions tailored to your unique needs.
Research shows that the quality of the relationship between you and your counsellor is the most important aspect of successful counselling.
When you feel heard, understood, and supported by your counsellor, you are more likely to feel safe and comfortable exploring your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. This, in turn, facilitates your greater self-awareness, insight and growth.
Counselling is very personal, so feel comfortable asking your counsellor any question about their ways of working with you. Providing constructive feedback to your counsellor strengthens your relationship and is helpful to the process. Your counsellor will not be offended if you tell them your counselling relationship is not working well for you and you would prefer to start with another counsellor at Loneliness NZ or elsewhere. It is not worth the angst—simply let us know your intentions, and we will wish you well.
Loneliness NZ offers one free session after registration so you can get to experience counselling, how Loneliness NZ works, and seeing if you feel the right fit with your counsellor, before committing to more sessions with us.
We emphasise collaboration, as our counsellors strive to empower you to play an active role in addressing your loneliness and fostering meaningful connections. Ultimately, our goal is to enhance your resilience and overall well-being.
The success of counselling hinges on mutual respect, trust, and a willingness to engage in open and honest conversations. This means you sharing about yourself and giving feedback on the counselling process, and us sharing observations and insights. By combining our expertise and life experiences, we aim to help you gain insights, cultivate greater self-awareness, identify patterns, understand root causes (when beneficial), and enhance your coping strategies.
We proceed at a pace that suits you, ensuring that our approach is comfortable and beneficial. Our counselling style is adaptable, balancing our expertise with what works best for you. Finding the most effective approach for you may involve some experimentation.
By understanding and potentially shifting your behaviour and thought processes, you can likely reduce feelings of loneliness. This may involve:
Our aim is to support you in achieving a more connected and fulfilling life.
Our counselling service does not have the capacity to help you, as much as we would like to. Services like St Johns and Age Concern might be helpful. Your local Citizens Advice Bureau or St Johns or Age Concern might be able to assist you.
We are not equipped to help anyone in immediate crisis. If you are in a situation where you are in immediate physical danger of harm, please call New Zealand’s emergency service 111 or the NZ Suicide helpline
1737.
Loneliness NZ only offers one-on-one counselling.
Cathy supports couples through her private practice, Cathy Comber Counselling. If one or both of you are experiencing loneliness, and you would like couples counselling through Cathy Comber Counselling, please contact Cathy via this site, mentioning your interest. The way Loneliness NZ then can benefit from this introduction is that Cathy will donate 10% of her fee from all your sessions to Loneliness NZ.
Our counselling isn’t one-size-fits-all; everyone’s needs are unique and can change over time. We listen to clients to understand what works best for them. We respect different counselling approaches and use whatever you agree is likely to be the most effective to you.
If you’re interested, you can find out more about this form of counselling, founded by Professors Mick Cooper and John McLeod by visiting the Pluralistic Practice website. The site contains a short easy to understand video.
| Household Income per Year | Individual Session Minimum Donation |
|---|---|
| Up to $30,000 | $60 |
| Up to $40,000 | $90 |
| Up to $50,000 | $110 |
| Up to $60,000 | $130 |
| Up to $80,000 | $145 |
You can apply for a Tax Donation Receipt which will enable you to qualify for a tax credit because Loneliness NZ is approved by Inland Revenue.
We appreciate your support and look forward to helping you on your journey to a more connected and fulfilling life.
Over the past six years, we’ve observed a heartening trend: clients who make a financial investment in their counselling sessions often demonstrate remarkable commitment. This dedication is reflected in their regular attendance and deep engagement in the counselling process, which significantly enhances the effectiveness of the sessions, fostering meaningful progress and healing. Some clients benefit from short-term counselling, while others engage in longer-term support.
Our counsellors also deeply appreciate your financial contributions, as they reflect the value placed on the many years dedicated to becoming qualified professionals.
It’s important to note that Loneliness NZ is an unfunded charity, relying on the generosity of people who do donate.
However, we understand that each individual’s journey is unique, and access to affordable counselling can be a vital support system. To ensure that everyone can benefit, we offer a voluntary contribution scale based on your annual household income.
We trust that if you choose to attend counselling with us, you will consider committing to this contribution model as a minimum.
Most counselling practices expect 50% of payment when you cancel too late to reasonably expect another client to fill the space, or you simply do not show for your appointment. We ask that your generosity extends to donating 50% of your expected session to Loneliness NZ in these circumstances.
You can apply for a Tax Donation Receipt, which will enable you to qualify for a tax credit because Loneliness NZ is approved by Inland Revenue. We trust that this will help ease the financial burden of counselling.
We understand that everyone’s needs are different. Some people prefer to have discussions during the day, while others find evenings more convenient. We will make every effort to give you an appointment at a time that works for both you and your Loneliness NZ counsellor.
In general, we offer appointments on weekdays, some evenings. We only on occasion would offer weekend daytimes, generally for our longer-term clients who want to make up a session.
The number of sessions you have is entirely your choice. Some clients benefit from a few sessions, while others find longer-term support more helpful. Sessions are typically 50 minutes long.
When you make an appointment, we ask that you are respectful to your counsellor and keep that appointment. They have set aside their time and potentially forfeited taking on another client. We understand that occasionally you might need to cancel. If you need to cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, we ask that you donate at least 50% of the missed session fee.
We are committed to providing flexible and accommodating support to meet your unique needs and schedule.
We use video technology as it is an effective way of communicating when we are in different geographical areas. Video takes out complete anonymity, and seeing each other face-to-face gives us a greater connection – a necessity for overcoming loneliness. We have details to use Zoom for free (no download needed).
We limit our service to only 18 years and older, as we believe that we cannot take sufficient care of younger people using Zoom.
We send you an information sheet how to make yourself comfortable when you are in your own environment to retain a professional relationship, and to feel ready for counselling.
The Loneliness NZ counsellor will host you on Zoom and send an email link before the meeting time. Click on the link to go into the “waiting room” until admitted. Once online, confirm you have a good audio and video connection.