Connor Davidson
Volunteer Counsellor
Session Types
Individual (Adults), In Person & Remote
Availability
Mondays & Sundays
Counselling Approach
Person-Centred
"No-one knows you, better than you. We can talk about your past week, or we can talk about past struggles or how you want to see yourself in the future. We can work at the pace you want to set out."
Would you care to introduce yourself?
Hi, my name is Connor and I am a Trainee Counsellor currently completing their studies in Person-Centred Counselling at Portsmouth University.
Why or what made you want to be a counsellor?
When I was younger I always wanted to get a job that directly helped people and made an impact. Whether that was a doctor, a fireman or a teacher... I didn't really mind. As I grew up, life (as it often can) got in the way and I went into other career paths, ones that didn't necessarily bring the fulfilment of the goals my childhood self had set out.
Then the pandemic struck, and like a lot of us, I used it as an opportunity to re-evaluate my career, and whether I wanted to make a change for myself, to get back on that idea of helping people for a living? I eventually did, and here I am as a result!
Counselling felt like a natural fit for me as a career, as I have always been interested in the mind and how it can affect us in both positive and negative ways, and the idea of helping people find a way to examine their issues, emotions and feelings through talking and hopefully leave them in a better place through doing so, really called out to me.
What made you want to work with The Empathy Project?
I appreciate The Empathy Project's mission statement and idea of helping the people of the local area and community, and the idea of the Community Fund.
Unfortunately, publicly funded mental health services are strained and there can be a cost element to private therapy that can put up a barrier of accessibility.
I think The Empathy Project's Community Fund is a noble plan to try and tackle that dilemma and the general ethics led ethos within the organisation is wonderful.
What is your approach to counselling? How would you describe it?
I practice in Person-Centred Counselling (also known as Client-Centred Counselling). Essentially it is a long-term talk therapy where the client directs what they would like to discuss each session. The reason that Person-Centred Counselling is client directed is because, compared to other counselling approaches, I believe that you are the expert of yourself.
No-one knows you, better than you. We can talk about your past week, or we can talk about past struggles or how you want to see yourself in the future. We can work at the pace you want to set out.
Consciously, and subconsciously, people generally know what they want to raise in a session and how to try and progress towards a goal they may want to achieve, and Person-Centred lets that happen naturally, rather than the counsellor making their own judgement of what the client needs.
What does successful therapy look like?
I think it's being able to trust and love the self and therapy is about unlocking or guiding people who have maybe lost that element of themselves (or unfortunately, never had it), so progression towards that end, would be successful to me.