Probably the most common opening to a first counselling session is “I’m not sure I need counselling, but…” And I imagine a lot of you reading this might be having the same thought, and the same feelings of hesitation and wariness. So how do you know if you need counselling? It is usually not too difficult to tell when we are unhappy or dissatisfied with life. Often the reason is an obvious one. Maybe a relative or friend has died or we have lost something precious. Maybe we are behaving in ways which are making day-to-day living difficult, obsessing about dripping taps or exploding with anger at work or at school, or harming ourselves in different ways and becoming secretive or dishonest. Sometimes the reason for our unhappiness is less clear. We may feel flat or stifled even when everything is apparently going well. We may be feeling alone despite lots of Facebook friends. We may even feel cross with those we love, parents or partners. And we may feel ashamed that we can’t make ever...