Over the past 20 years I have noticed a sharp change in the gender of most of my clients. At first, it was mostly women who came to see me
to discus their lives. But over the past 10 years or so more men have been accessing my services. I am now at the point where about 75% of my clients are men.
Middle aged men are now more likely to die by suicide than any other age group. Depression and anxiety are common in that age group, and us
fellas are very adept at hiding it. As a therapist myself you might think that I am immune to those things, or that if I do struggle, I am good at talking about it. Think again. As a late middle-aged bloke, I live with all the same life struggles as you may have. Sometimes I feel lonely, sad, vulnerable and even wonder at times what’s it all about. I have some good friends, many of them therapists. And I do talk openly with them about how I am feeling. But it’s not easy, even for me.
I’m a season ticket holder at Charlton Athletic. (Don’t laugh, you can’t help where you’re born.) I like my sport and like to read
online articles. I came across this by Barney Ronay, a sport journalist at The Guardian. It inspired me to add this little piece to my website. You can read Barney’s article here.
Why am I writing this? I guess I just want you to know that I am a 63 year-old man, and if you are struggling then I am confident that I will
get it. Or at least I will try hard to get it. I’m not a nodding dog; I will actively engage with you and give you a safe space to tell me whatever you want
to tell me. You might have been in a long-term relationship that has come to an end, either through bereavement or break up. You may have lost your job to redundancy or retirement. You may still be in your lifelong relationship, but witnessing your children flying the nest, leaving you with a son or daughter
sized hole in your life that you are struggling to fill. If you are like me, you might physically ache in places you never knew existed and be grieving the virility and fitness of your youth. You might have a more serious health condition. Or it might be something less tangible or obvious:
you might just feel a bit (or a lot) crap.
If there are answers, then perhaps we will discover it, but don’t underestimate the power of simply being heard. It does help.
© Richard Church | powered by WebHealer
I have checked on the governments website https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/ and while I have no legal obligations in this area, I do have an ethical duty to adhere to the principles of the legislation, and I am happy to do so.
Counselling and psychotherapy is a confidential activity. I do not share clients’ personal data with others. The exception being that if I believe that a client is at risk of seriously harming themselves, or someone else then I reserve the right to break confidentiality in order to prevent harm. The other exception is that if I am ordered to by a court of law, then I would have to. This would be following a court order, signed by a judge. The police or anyone else have no right to obtain details of my clients without a signed court order.
So what information do I store? Your name, address, phone number and that of your General Practitioner are noted on paper and kept locked away separately from all other paperwork.
I do keep notes about my sessions with clients, and these are not identifiable by name, just a code that only I know. These notes are again stored on paper and are kept locked away separately. I do not keep any client records stored electronically. However clients’ phone numbers and their first name are stored on my phone and if you email me then your email address will be recorded within the hard drive of my lap top.
Client’s may withdraw consent for me to hold the above information at any time and may ask for any information I hold to be sent to them. I have a duty to comply with any such request within one month.