Individual, Relationship, Family, Professional Counselling ServicesAffirmotive's confidential private services are offered face to face, by phone, or as online talk sessions.
Affirmotive's Heide McConkey is an experienced professional counselllor and clinical sex therapist. Heide's holistic counselling and therapy services are tailored for individuals, couples and families of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Heide's solution focused and goal orientated approach is designed to save time and money. Heide provides a respectful, confidential, safe and non-judgmental environment where people can gain awareness into the circumstances that have shaped their lives.
Individual
At Affirmotive's you can safely open up and share your very personal issues with the professional counsellor in a private session. Personal issues are often specific to a particular problem you may experiencing or have experienced in the past, with the professional counsellor helping you to find ways to resolve. In depth individual counselling sessions can achieve permanent change and healing from longstanding emotional hurt. You will determine your personal goals and choose individual counselling as a one off session, or a short-term, or longer term treatment plan.
Relationship
Affirmotive's professional relationship counselling provides an option for couples who want to sort out problems together.
Couples can talk openly and safely about their differences. The professional counsellor will help you to put your relationship difficulties into perspective, explore each person's individual background that may have contributed to the current conflict, and discuss your relationship goals with you. Many couples seek professional counselling for the purpose of keeping their union together, but others want to achieve a friendly separation or divorce. You will learn effective strategies for achieving your goals with conflict resolution and assertive communication skills. The couple will gain an understanding of why the relationship was not working in the past, and what lessons they can learn for the future.
Family 
Affirmotive's family counselling is similar to relationship counselling, but involves the entire family. The professional counsellor will help family members explore the ways in which individuals behave, and how this individual behaviour affects the family as a whole.
The family will be encouraged to develop an understanding of each other and develop ways of communicating effectively with each other as individuals and as a group.
Personal Counselling
Stress
Stress is a normal part of contemporary human life and individuals cope mostly well in stressful situations. In cases where the capacity of coping with stress overloads, stress may become overwhelming and seriously debilitating. There is growing scientific evidence that long term unmanaged high stress can negatively influence the immune system and contribute to ill health. Furthermore, unmanaged long term high stress can trigger anxiety, panic, depression, mood disorders, disordered eating, sleep disorders, sexual imbalance, and addictions.
Anxiety
Total relaxation is a myth. A certain amount of anxiety is a healthy necessity to (top) perform. Untreated abnormal high anxiety however is disabling and can lead to non performance, fear of failure, shyness, avoidance, impaired physical health, and addictions. Obsessions and Compulsions
Obsessions are unwanted recurrent and mostly unrealistic intrusive thoughts that interfere with a healthy judgment and can lead to over-concerns and undue worries. Affected individuals may be aware of the fact that their fears, concerns or worries are over the top and often unfounded, but cannot stop. In an effort to control intrusive thoughts, ritualistic behaviours may be compulsively performed. For example; a person may be obsessed with thoughts of negative consequences posed by dirt and germs, and may resort to endless and compulsive hand washing rituals in order to control contamination. Obsessive thoughts and compulsive control behaviours can also have a sexual content. People affected by obsessions or compulsions suffer from a treatable mental disorder.
Panic attacks
Panic attacks are a form of high level anxiety and typically trigger an unpleasant physical response. Panic attacks can come out of nowhere and can even happen during sleep. The physical symptoms of a panic attack may mimic the symptoms of a heart attack and can include chest pain, heart palpitation, temporary short term loss of sensitivity in limbs, pins and needles, dizziness, pale skin, sweating, and shortness of breath. Panic attacks present no physical risk to a person's life. Panic is a treatable psychological disorder. Phobia
Phobia is a form of anxiety triggered by a specific event or object of a typically non threatening nature. Very few people really love creepies and crawlies, but they can be a source of a real fear for some individuals. Others find it impossible to get into a lift or other closed environments, some persons intensely dislike and fear heights, and some folks might give up a holiday to avoid plane or train travel. Sexuality and sexual events can also trigger a phobia. Phobias are treatable disorders. Depression
Coming to terms with sadness, grief and significant loss can be hard. Some individuals experience adjustments to a new life situation as impossible. Other persons may feel distressed, sad or low for no obvious reasons. Negative experiences or emotions can create tunnel vision and may become all consuming to the point of life losing it's meaning. Sadness may become overwhelming and dark thoughts may take over. If you have recurrent thoughts of self-harming or suicide you must immediately contact your doctor, counsellor or local hospital. Depression is a treatable disorder. Anger
Anger is a normal instinctual defense to distressing events, environments or persons. Mismanaged anger can escalate into enrage or outrage within seconds. Enrage is acted out against the self by bottling up negative emotions. Outrage may be acted out as violence against other people or objects. Affirmotive is teaching impulse control skills, and 'anger-from-rage separation' techniques. Communication
Affirmotive is teaching techniques of fearlessly and adequately expressing thoughts, ideas, needs, feelings and wants.
Mediation
The counsellor takes a non-judgmental middle position between disagreeing parties, and negotiates a common ground as a basis for settlement. Addiction
Addiction is not a moral failure but an anxiety disorder and faulty attachment bond to sustenance and pleasure. There is growing evidence for addiction being influenced by genetic, biological, physical, social and environmental factors. If left untreated, addictions tend to escalate in severity. Sex addiction is an addiction too, and not just an outlandish sex drive. Addiction is a treatable disorder and requires professional intervention.
Disordered eating
Disordered eating or eating disorder is an unhealthy attachment bond to food and body image. Affected people typically suffer from low self esteem and may live restricted life styles including missing out on social life, sex life, relationships, marriage, or parenthood.
Excess weight loss or weight gain may lead to severe health complications. Out of control eating requires professional help.
|
