Breakeven Counselling offers a safe and confidential space to explore problems that may be diminishing your well-being and preventing you from living a full and satisfying life.

We offer FREE counselling for people with gambling-related issues, including affected partners, family members and friends, with no waiting list. This can be Face to Face, remote counselling via Telephone or video calling.
We also offer help in regards to self-exclusion, just call 01273833722 or email info@breakeven.org.uk for more information.

The Counsellor meets the client at a regular time each week to examine patterns of behaviour; sometimes unresolved issues from the past may be causing you to gamble. Problem gambling can cause a negative self-image which may be contributing to low self-esteem and feelings of anxiety and depression.

Breakeven Counselling works in a strictly confidential manner, and adheres to strict professional guidelines that include a Code of Ethics as set out by the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapy, (BACP).

Counselling is a joint venture in which the counsellor works with you to make sense of your individual circumstances, to identify your choices for change and offering support throughout the process

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Counselling & Psychotherapy – Individual & Couples.

We offer private therapy for individuals and couples that want to explore anything that may be blocking them from obtaining an optimum level of physical, emotional or mental health and wellbeing. This is always done in an empathetic, non-judgemental ‘safe’ space with a therapist.

An assessment is always carried out with clients before they begin working with their therapist, so that we can properly assess, on an individualistic basis, the type of support and approaches that will be most appropriate.

For those booking in for one-to-one private therapy, you will complete an assessment free of charge, typically over the phone, and each session following that will be £50.

Our private couples therapy is £60 you will complete an assessment free of charge, typically over the phone, and each session following that will be £60.

Call 07890264057 or email us on ian@breakeven.org.uk for more information.

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Therapy may be available for individuals, couples, families and groups, and there are different ways of working with people, usually referred to as ‘approaches’ or ‘techniques’ or ‘modalities’. This just means that therapists have had different training and have different ways of working with clients, for example Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Person-centred therapy, Psychodynamic therapy, Trauma therapy etc. Although therapists may train specifically in one model of therapy, they may incorporate different techniques from other models if they feel it will be helpful to their client. In addition some therapists may have specific approaches for working with people with eating disorders, addictions, issues of sexuality etc.

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Devised by Carl Rogers and also called "Client-Centred" or "Rogerian" counselling, this is based on the assumption that a client seeking help in the resolution of a problem they are experiencing, can enter into a relationship with a counsellor who is sufficiently accepting and permissive to allow the client to freely express any emotions and feelings.

This will enable the client to come to terms with negative feelings, which may have caused emotional problems, and develop inner resources. The objective is for the client to become able to see himself as a person, with the power and freedom to change, rather than as an object

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy. Unlike other types of talking treatments, such as psychotherapy, CBT deals with current problems rather than focusing on issues from the past. It looks for practical ways to improve a person’s state of mind on a daily basis.

CBT looks at how we think about a situation and how this affects the way we act. Talking and changing our behaviour can change how we think (cognitive) and what we do (behaviour).

The therapist and client work together in changing the clients behaviours, or their thinking patterns, or both these.

CBT is not a quick fix, it involves hard work during and between sessions. The client and therapist will discuss specific difficulties and will set goals.

CBT has been proven to help treat a wide range of emotional and physical health conditions in adults, young people and children and is recommended by NICE in the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis and bipolar disorder

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Breakeven has fully trained therapists from a variety of professional disciplines that deal in Trauma, Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) and Group Crisis Intervention.

What CISM

Critical Incident Stress Management is a co-ordinated program of tactics that are linked and blended together to alleviate the reactions to traumatic experiences.

If you have experienced a traumatic event or a critical incident (any event that causes unusually strong emotional reactions that have the potential to interfere with the ability to function normally,) even though the event may be over, you may now be experiencing or may experience later, some strong emotional or physical reactions. It is very common, in fact quite normal, got people to experience emotional aftershocks when they have passed through a horrible event.

Crisis Intervention is Psychological First Aid or Emotional First Aid, it is an active, short-term, supportive, helping process, helping to stabilise the individuals involved, reduce symptoms, return individuals to adaptive functioning or to facilitate access to continued care.

There is now emerging evidence that Early Psychological Intervention after an event can lead to sustained reduction in morbidity years later and can reduce the need for more intensive psychological services reducing the costs to both the individual and the public.

Employers are starting to recognise that traumatic incidents can affect how people feel and react, and for this reason employers are starting to implement help schemes.

All of therapists are trained in CISM and are available at short notice.

Psychological Disorders

If not managed and resolved appropriately, the state of arousal caused by a Critical Incident may lead to several psychological disorders including Acute Stress Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Attacks, Depression, Alcohol, Drugs and Other forms of Abuse etc.

Doctors and Caring Professionals as well as work colleagues, family and friends can often miss the effects of trauma.

Psychological Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are often misdiagnosed as depression, anxiety or even ME. There are well established and effective treatments available for survivors of Trauma and PTSD, and here at Breakeven our Counsellors have extensive training and experience in this field.

It is important to understand that the reactions an individual may be experiencing are very common following a trauma. They are NOT a sign of weakness or cracking up.

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Relationship counselllng is the process of counselling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences and repeating patterns of distress. The relationship involved may be between members of a family or a couple, employees or employers in a workplace, or between a professional and a client.

Relationship counselling helps you to make the most of your relationships, past, present or future. We can help you to work through problems in current relationships, explore the effects of past relationships or look at how to improve and enrich relationships for the future.

We work with all relationship difficulties whether you are in a couple or on your own, regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity. What’s important to us is your relationship.

Couple therapy (or relationship therapy) is a related and different process. It may differ from relationship counseling in duration. Short term counselling may be between 1 to 3 sessions whereas long term couples therapy may be between 12 and 24 sessions. An exception is brief or solution focused couples therapy. In addition, counselling tends to be more ‘here and now’ and new coping strategies the outcome. Couples therapy is more about seemingly intractable problems with a relationship history, where emotions are the target and the agent of change.

Marriage counselling or marital therapy can refer to either or some combination of the above.

The methods may differ in other ways as well, but the differences may indicate more about the counsellor/therapist’s way of working than the title given to their process.

What can I expect from Relationship Counselling?

Breakeven counsellors provide a caring and supportive environment to help you find a way through any difficulties you may be facing.

Once you have made an appointment you will be seen by a trained professional who will ask some questions about you and your partner, your relationship and what you hope to get out of your counselling.

How will Relationship Counselling help me?

It really depends what you want to get out of the counselling, but it is rare that you will leave counselling without feeling a positive change. For some people we transform their relationships and their lives; for others we help them solve a specific problem and move forward with more confidence and less anxiety.

Most relationships will get strained at some time, resulting in their not functioning optimally and producing self-reinforcing, maladaptive patterns. These patterns may be called negative interaction cycles. There are many possible reasons for this, including insecure attachment, ego, arrogance, jealousy, anger, greed, poor communication/understanding or problem solving, ill health, third parties and so on.

Often it is an interaction between two or more factors, and frequently it is not just one of the people who are involved that exhibit such traits. Relationship influences are reciprocal – it takes each person involved to make and manage problems.

The next step is to adopt conscious, structural changes to the inter-personal relationships and evaluate the effectiveness of those changes over time.

Indeed, "typically for those close personal relations there is a certain degree in ‘interdependence’ – which means that the partners are alternately mutually dependent on each other. As a special aspect of such relations something contradictory is put outside: the need for intimacy and for autonomy."

"The common counterbalancing satisfaction these both needs, intimacy and autonomy, leads to alternately satisfaction in the relationship and stability. But it depends on the specific developing duties of each partner in every life phase and maturity".

Common areas for help include

1. Destructive patterns of relating can be recognised and addressed.
2. Conflict and communication can be improved.
3. New relationship skills can be learned.
4. The impact of change and loss can be examined.
5. Relationships can be more successful.
6. Abusive relationships and domestic violence can be acknowledged.
7. Sex can be a source of great enjoyment within a long-term relationship and any problems it poses can leave one partner feeling rejected or angry. Loss of desire is often an early sign of problems.

Separation & divorce counselling can help explore whether trust can be repaired or the relationship will need to be rebuilt. If not, it can allow the couple to split with more understanding and less hostility.

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Types of therapy

Therapy may be available for individuals, couples, families and groups, and there are different ways of working with people, usually referred to as ‘approaches’ or ‘techniques’ or ‘modalities’. This just means that therapists have had different training and have different ways of working with clients, for example Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Person-centred therapy, Psychodynamic therapy, Trauma therapy etc. Although therapists may train specifically in one model of therapy, they may incorporate different techniques from other models if they feel it will be helpful to their client. In addition some therapists may have specific approaches for working with people with eating disorders, addictions, issues of sexuality etc.

Person-Centered Therapy

Devised by Carl Rogers and also called "Client-Centred" or "Rogerian" counselling, this is based on the assumption that a client seeking help in the resolution of a problem they are experiencing, can enter into a relationship with a counsellor who is sufficiently accepting and permissive to allow the client to freely express any emotions and feelings.

This will enable the client to come to terms with negative feelings, which may have caused emotional problems, and develop inner resources. The objective is for the client to become able to see himself as a person, with the power and freedom to change, rather than as an object

Back to top

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy. Unlike other types of talking treatments, such as psychotherapy, CBT deals with current problems rather than focusing on issues from the past. It looks for practical ways to improve a person’s state of mind on a daily basis.

CBT looks at how we think about a situation and how this affects the way we act. Talking and changing our behaviour can change how we think (cognitive) and what we do (behaviour).

The therapist and client work together in changing the clients behaviours, or their thinking patterns, or both these.

CBT is not a quick fix, it involves hard work during and between sessions. The client and therapist will discuss specific difficulties and will set goals.

CBT has been proven to help treat a wide range of emotional and physical health conditions in adults, young people and children and is recommended by NICE in the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and psychosis and bipolar disorder.

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Motivational interviewing is a person-centred counselling style for addressing the common problem of ambivalence about change.
It’s a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention paid to the language of change. It helps the person stuck in a destructive pattern of behaviour such as problematic gambling to strengthen their motivation with a commitment to a specific goal.
The counsellor will help you explore and elicit your own reasons for change within a non-judgemental, compassionate environment.

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