Counselling

Counselling support to students and staff at HE institutions

At Only Connect 2, we draw upon psychodynamic theories and CBT.

Psychodynamic Therapy

What is Psychodynamic Therapy?


Psychodynamic therapy is an approach that involves facilitating a deeper understanding of one's emotions and other mental processes. It works to help people gain greater insight into how they feel and think. By improving this understanding, people can make better life choices. They can also work on improving their relationships with other people and work toward achieving the goals that will bring them greater happiness and satisfaction.


Psychodynamic therapy helps people recognise repressed emotions and unconscious influences affecting their behaviour. Sometimes, people act in specific ways or respond to others for reasons they don't understand. Psychodynamic therapy helps people learn to acknowledge, bear, and put into perspective their emotional lives. It also helps people learn how to express their emotions in more adaptive and healthier ways.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?


CBT is a type of psychotherapeutic support that helps people learn how to identify and change the destructive or disturbing thought patterns that negatively influence their behaviour and emotions. CBT combines cognitive therapy with behaviour therapy by identifying unhelpful ways of thinking, emotional responses, or behaviours and replacing them with more positive patterns.


CBT focuses on changing the automatic negative thoughts that can contribute to and worsen our emotional difficulties, depression and anxieties. These spontaneous negative thoughts also have a detrimental influence on our mood. Through CBT, these negative patterns are identified, challenged, and replaced with more objective, realistic thoughts.

If you are a student ...

If you are a student you may find that moving away from home can bring enormous change in your life and whilst this can be exciting and rewarding, being away from home and familiar surroundings can leave students feeling disorientated and anxious. The issues that students bring to counselling are many and varied. Students come to talk about problems with their course work, worries about exams, family difficulties, money worries, concerns about relationships, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, bereavement and homesickness. These are some of the reasons a student may come to counselling or there may be other reasons and it may be that things just don’t feel right for the person at the time.

To book an appointment, please call us at 07354 808 346 or email us at info@onlyconnect2.com or through the contact form.

If you are a member of staff...

If you are a member of staff in higher education you may feel that the stresses and anxieties that you are experiencing in your work or life have felt overwhelming and that you feel that you need to speak to someone external, who is objective but understands the challenges you face working in this environment. It may be that the constant shifting organisational change and demands feel too much for you. You may be struggling with relationships at work or even feel that you are being bullied by your line manager or other staff in your team.

Only Connect 2 offers counselling support to staff, which is external and confidential. We can see staff individually on a private basis but it may be that we can offer more in depth work to teams that are struggling and who need a reflective, containing space to try to deal with their difficulties. So we can also provide specialist, tailor-made workshops for larger numbers of staff.

To book an appointment, please call us at 07354 808 346 or email us at info@onlyconnect2.com or through the contact form.

Our counselling service is available on an individual and organisational basis if you work in education and you:

Would like to talk things through with a complete outsider.

Are under pressure that interferes with your capacity to work effectively.

Are so stressed that you feel unable to function properly at work.

Suffer from debilitating depression, panic attacks or other stress-related symptoms.

Feel in a rut with your work or personal life and can't make any moves forward.

Would like to explore the personal impact of change or conflict within your institution.

Have stress-related symptoms that you want to get to the root of.

Have been affected by an incident, such as a sudden death in your institution.

Are going through a redundancy or grievance at work.

Have a health or disability issue affecting your life in general and at work.

Are experiencing relationship problems such as divorce or separation.

Any issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To book an appointment, please call us at 07354 808 346 or email us at info@onlyconnect2.com or through the contact form.


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