I experience counselling as an active, collaborative and creative process. There are no guarantees that working with me with will be the right thing for you. The only way to find out is to try it.
I have copied the guidelines that I give to new clients below, apologies for the repetition from other areas of this site. If you have any questions you can email me via the contact page.
I have copied the guidelines that I give to new clients below, apologies for the repetition from other areas of this site. If you have any questions you can email me via the contact page.
- Counselling is offered for a one hour session normally on the same day and time each week over an agreed period of time.
- Counselling is about the effective use of the skills of listening, and the development of a trusting relationship between client and counsellor. It may help you when you wish to make changes in your life, or make sense of particular circumstances. Counselling provides support during the process of change. It can help you to be more aware of your thoughts, feelings and experiences creating a better understanding of yourself; giving you more power to make beneficial choices.
- The primary counselling approach I use is psychodynamic, a model that recognises that the impact of our earliest experiences can still have influence in our present lives and relationships. By helping to bring some of those, possibly forgotten, early experiences back to consciousness, it is possible to work towards acknowledging and accepting feelings, in such a way that past and present may be integrated. It also pays attention to how differences between what we feel and what we think can cause conflict. This may be experienced in the counselling session by exploring feelings, patterns of how we relate to other people and by considering what meaning there may be in unconscious communications and actions. I may use ideas from Motivational Interviewing and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; particularly if working with addictions. I am also developing ways of using natural objects and settings to enhance the therapeutic experience for those clients who choose this option and for whom it is appropriate.
- I hold a Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling and am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and work within their Ethical Framework for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
- As well as working privately, I counsel within the NHS focusing on addictions. I originally trained as a nurse and as such have been providing professional healthcare for 34 years. I retrained as a counsellor in 2008, qualifying in 2010.
- I can be contacted on 07545 144284 or on [email protected] or [email protected]. If leaving a message, please state if it is okay to call back and whether it is okay to leave a message. As I wish to maintain your confidentiality I will not call back without your express permission. I will return your contact as soon as possible but this may take up to 48 hours. Text or e-mail communications will typically relate to organisational matters, altering appointments for example: any therapeutic material developed in these communications can usually be better explored in person. I make every effort to protect your confidentiality when using electronic technologies, but as this is rapidly changing landscape I ask you to help protect yourself my minimising the transmission of personal or private information.