THE COUNSELLING PROGRAM

When someone is subject to repeated acts of violence, s/he gets caught in a vicious circle: crisis, despair, self-blaming, hope and then another crisis. S/he loses confidence in him/herself, in his/her own judgment and capacity to act. That person needs help.

A.L.E.G. offers counselling and free therapy through our psychologist Eniko Gall, specialised in cognitive and behavioural therapy.

The problems for which our beneficiaries asked for support were: bad mood, constant crying, loss of joy of living, low self-esteem, social anxiety, lack of hope for the future, food disorders, sufferance triggered by domestic violence.

Emotions and pain make people ask for help. Counselling sessions go through several stages during which beneficiaries become aware of dysfunctional thoughts about which they knew little or nothing at all. Then together with the beneficiary the therapist analyses to what extent these thoughts trigger and maintain emotions and behaviours which cause sufferance and which the beneficiary wishes to change.

Together we identify opinions, beliefs and false expectations and we turn them into hypotheses which need to be checked in everyday life.

Often when we go through a more difficult period in our life we tend to think in a systematically negative manner which works to our disadvantage. In such circumstances, with a little help we may learn to identify and eliminate those negative thoughts and emotions and get control of the situation while increasing our self-esteem and growing happier.

The starting point is simple: it is not the life events that affect our reactions directly, but the way in which we interpret these events ourselves causes the reactions (cognitive, behavioural, and emotional). When we become aware of this, it becomes easier to control our own life.

Problems arise constantly and they must be solved, otherwise the beneficiaries will not pass through experiences of pleasure and control. At the end of each session, patients are being confronted with real situations with the purpose is to compare the negative thoughts with reality; they also receive homework as the most important part of recovery takes place in one's everyday life and the beneficiaries must apply what they learnt during the therapy session.