David Curl Counselling

I continue to work with young people and families at a local school - but, alongside that, I felt called to work with both teenagers and adults on a range of different concerns as a 'counsellor in private practice'.

This helps me use and develop my expertise - client feedback over the past twelve months also tells me that this is helpful to others.

A range of possible reasons - but here are three, as an example.

First: if you're the parent of a teenager, or looking for counselling for a young adult (age 16+), I *enjoy* working with this age group and I enjoy working with parents/ carers.

Second: if you, like me, are interested in music, film, literature or the arts generally, I may be the counsellor for you. Here's a promise - if there's a film that's important to you, and you feel I'd be getting to know you better if I watched it, then I will make time to see it in between our sessions.

Third: I'm a male counsellor (we're in a minority in the profession), who also supports Journeyman Avalon, the local branch of a national organisation which supports mentoring of adolescent males. As a counsellor, open to learning about others' experiences, I am happy to talk with both teenagers and adults about what we might call 'male identity' issues e.g. relationships, love, sex, parenthood, friendship work, retirement etc - and, of course, these can be 'female identity' issues too. I am committed to a pro-diversity outlook and to equal opportunities and am open to working with clients of any gender, sexuality, heritage etc.

Finally, a 'word to the wise': counselling's a confidential relationship in which you should feel safe talking about subjects close to your heart. In law, there are surprisingly few rules about who is or isn't allowed to market themselves as a ‘counsellor’ - please choose someone who's a member of the BACP (as I am; you can check the BACP's register online) or other reputable professional organisation.