About
I am a fully qualified and experienced counsellor working in the NHS as well as in private practice. I have significant experience in working with clients from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, gender identity and sexual orientation as well as with other protected characteristics including disability and with challenging presenting issues including trauma, depression, anxiety, identity / self-esteem, bereavement.
I offer weekly 50-minute sessions. I hold a professional registered membership (MBACP) with BACP and abide by their Ethical Framework. I am also a member of the Association of Amputee Rehabilitation Counsellors (AARC) and the Relational School. I am fully insured and hold an enhanced DBS.
I work relationally, the therapeutic relationship being paramount and placing the client at the heart of the process, manifesting as the dynamic which unfolds and changes between the therapist and the client. It is often the agent for change and healing in the client. Relationships are a key factor in mental wellbeing. Through relationships a person finds out who they really are, how their early experiences of relationships shaped them and how they perceive the world; how they can connect to the world and fellow human beings; and how they can bring the gift of their own uniqueness into the world.
Living in a modern, busy and fast-paced world leaves little time to stay connected to oneself and/or engage deeply in relationships with others, therefore, having one's own reflective space becomes all the more necessary.
In this safe space I aim to facilitate a confidential experience of self exploration, building awareness about how echoes from the past, beliefs, values, thoughts, experiences, developmental deficits and learned behaviour may still reverberate into the present resulting in unhelpful behavioural patterns and/or tendencies.
The exploration will focus on your priorities and what is important to you including everyday life difficulties and challenges, concerns, triggers, patterns: in essence anything that stops you being your authentic self, reaching your potential and enjoying life in the way you would like. In doing so I shall attempt to provide a different relational experience: being in the presence of another with no preset agenda, no need to perform, deliver, come up with the goods, rush to fill the space.
My commitment is to remain co-present non-judgementally with empathy, transparency, congruence, loving kindness, willingness to bear with you what may feel unbearable and openness to what may emerge to be of benefit to you in the process. Most importantly with a sense of respect and gratitude for the joint journey, learning and insights gained along the way, which may enable you to reach a new understanding and give a different meaning to your life experience.
Reconnecting with your agency and consciously reorganising the collage of your lived experience will free you from feeling trapped in the buried shards of your past and allow you to consciously transition to living fully and securely in the present in a more integrated way, feeling satisfaction in ordinary everyday things and looking forward to the future in a way which is meaningful to you.
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