About
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‘The principle aim of psychotherapy is not to transport one to an impossible state of happiness, but to help the client acquire steadfastness and patience in the face of suffering.’- Carl Jung
BOOK YOUR FIRST SESSION HERE: https://harleytherapy.
com/therapists/melissa-clarke
I am a 41-year-old MBACP Psychotherapeutic Counsellor with Harley Therapy Platform and currently obtaining an MSc in Mental Health Sciences. I have experience in a variety of work settings with clients ranging from general to severe difficulties. I apply an integrative approach using psychoanalytic, CBT, and person centred skills that will adapt my approach accordingly using a relational model that suits the client’s individual’s needs. My clients have ranged from vulnerable adolescents and adults acquiring attention for extreme behavioural problems, to those looking for lifestyle and well-being maintenance or more general counselling. I have worked extensively with anxiety and depression, mood regulation, and attachment difficulties. My counselling practice serves to oversee their emotional and psychological well-being through a nurturing, supportive environment employing mindfulness techniques that help with distress tolerance. Having maintained my practice with Harley Therapy I have also had experience working in recovery units in Hackney and Parental support with social services for the council. I understand the importance of organisation and maintaining healthy relationships with clear boundaries. I administer referrals, and setup assessments in the step care process of an individual’s needs. Currently in the process of levelling up in accreditation with 500 client hours behind me.
I run face-to-face- sessions online using Zoom. The first session usually involves talking therapy where I can get to understand your situation, what it is you are looking for, and discuss what I can do to help. Should you decide later on that you would like to engage in a therapeutic relationship with me, we would continue weekly (or bi weekly upon request) with a review after 6 sessions. I charge £50 per session and all sessions are 100% confidential. Payments are debited weekly from the 2nd session onwards and can be cancelled at any point if you wish not to proceed with the therapy. Should you wish to skip a session during treatment, you will have the option for a makeup session so long as it falls within the following week. The skipped session can not be refunded.
You can book me straight away here on the link below:
https://harleytherapy.com/therapists/melissa-clarke
Educational History
2017
Open University
BACP Degree in Counselling
CPCAB Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
Certificate in Safeguarding Children & Young People
2017
London Borough of Hackney Health & Community Services
Certificate in Young People & Substance Misuse
BACP Membership #: 00808725 (Total 500 hours)
Please see supervision report below:
283 client hrs by psychologist Dr Natasha Sarkissian / 185 hrs report with Counselling Supervisor Helen Daly
Employment History
October 2020-Present
Harley Therapy
Private Practice via regulated online platform
www.harleytherapy.com
Currently Taking Private Clients online from home 2 days a week-Evening Work/Self Managed
• Relational Empathic Listening + role modelling
•Weekly Emails assigning therapeutic tasks between sessions
•Assigned Reading Materials on Depression and Anxiety between sessions
•Psychodynamic Challenging
•Bi-WeeklyPHQ9-GAD7 Depression and Anxiety Inventory
•6 Week Review
•Open Forum for client inquiries
•Session Notes
•Private Supervision with Dr. Natasha Sarkissian overseeing my client work
•Decisional Matrix Activity -helping clients reach informed decisions through visual diagram
•Needs List
•Emotional Flow Chart-Low/Medium/High
•Mindfulness Techniques
•Confidence Cards
•Core Beliefs Model
April 2020 – November 2020 (Sub-Contract)
Innovate Services- Edge of Care unit (Social Services/Medway Council)
Therapeutic Parent Practitioner and Adolescent Counselling Support:
•Talking Therapy: A chance for clients to express their concerns and feel supported and validated empathically
•Psychodynamic relational modelling and challenging with adults
•Person Centred and relational modelling strategies with adolescents
•Bi-weekly Anxiety & Depression inventory (PHQ9/GAD7) to monitor emotional health and resilience levels
•CBT skills on effective communication and thought processing management + take-home toolkit (“how you think determines how you feel and how you behave”)
•Supporting complex mental health issues including depression, anxiety, trauma, BPD, NPD, Bi-polar disorder, ADHD, memory loss, attachment disorder, self-harm
•Mindfulness based activities
•Distress Tolerance/Emotional Dysregulation management
•Needs List: description on individual’s needs to facilitate understanding and enable support
•Therapeutic Parenting: PACE model /Role Play/Resilience testing/communication dialogue emphasising tone and rhythm
•Mediation Sessions- between parents and adolescents who are LAC children (looked after children) by the local authority
•Mediation Sessions – couples
•Asserting professional opinion to strategy and review meetings
•Setting up Psychiatric Assessments and relevant forms undertaken by child, parent, their social community, and education system
•General administration tasks: Excel, note taking, clinician liaising, research
•Safeguarding adults and adolescents
•Supporting Parents through anxieties around social services intervention
•Creating a step care plan for adolescents in foster care to return to their families
09/2016-present
Limited Company Flexi Pop-Ins
Child Therapeutic work/ Counselling Child Service Providers to
•Assist child in secure attachment building
• Safeguard effectively
• Oversee the emotional welfare for children and adolescents safely and in a non-directive manner
• Implement Therapeutic Play techniques in assisting personality development (sandbox and creative play)
• Implement clear boundaries through a step cared approach in correspondence to the child’s understanding
• Communicate effectively with families about their children
• Develop active listening skills with child to help regulate and mediate the routine and temperament
• Recognising and finding awareness in child’s non-verbal communication in order to help assist parents in child development
• Recognize the limitations and strengths with a child’s development and facilitate growth safely
• Focus on tailoring activities towards the child’s individual strengths
• Organize activity/routine planning
09/2016-Present Private Practice
Plus Guidance Online Counselling Support:
Online Counselling (50-minute session with clients between ages 18-40)
Face to Face:
Talking Therapy Treatment-
• dissociative issues
• depression
• body dysmorphia
• sexual abuse
• trauma
• substance misuse
Talking Therapy Treatment: University Student (Age 20)
• general anxiety
• panic and stress
• feelings of disregard & isolation
• fluctuation highs and lows
• relational confusion
• boundary disfunction
• tiredness
• identity confusion
• sexual abuse
10/ 2015-August 2016
Agencies
Westminster Drug Project
• Talking therapy and listening support for client’s emotional and mental states whilst they were undergoing rehabilitation for substance misuse
• Safeguarding Reports
• Helped clients identify patterns with their day-to-day routine and assisted routine restructuring (including nutrition)
• Identified unhelpful attachments and helped clients form new positive attachments
• Employed psychoanalytic techniques for clients who were able and ready to reflect on their history
• Helped clients identify forms of abuse
• Formed clear boundaries in my relationships with clients teaching them to form boundaries in their environment
• Monitored anxiety levels and psychological dissociations that contributed to more misuse
• Empowered clients to incorporate self-help techniques outside of the therapy room going forward
01/2014-June 2015
LIFELINE HACKNEY
• Offered clients listening support and talking therapy
• Helped clients understand how they view their sense of self through the Sand Box technique (Art Therapy)
• Behaviour modification (introduced CBT articles on self-esteem) helping clients recognise core beliefs that cause their mental
and emotional state to spiral
• Practised mindfulness techniques for clients to use during moments of anxiety
• Helped clients understand their role of personal responsibility
• Used psychodynamic techniques to interpret transferences and defences
• Used psychoanalytic techniques to assist the client in understanding how their difficulties came to be
04/2014-August2014
Transport House
Turning Point
• Worked creatively with clients using art therapy (Brick Wall Method, Music & Mindfulness)
• Active listening using the Blank Slate method so clients could feel heard without any external influencing from therapist
• Helped clients understand the psychological effects playing on their psyche due to the use of substances
• Role Play Method
• Re-Parenting method
• Alcohol and drug awareness training
Summary of issues that I’ve treated
200+ hours (face to face) treating & safeguarding clients with issues related to
• disassociation
• abandonment and neglect.
• attachment (avoidant/anxious)
• stress and anxiety
• depression
• phobia
• addictions (uppers/downers & substance misuse)
Other Skills
•Computing Skills/ Mac OS/Windows/Word/Excel/Outlook/PowerPoint/iMovie
•Piano/Singing/Composing Music -classical and contemporary
•Cooking
• Childcare
•Snowboarding
•organising
•decorating
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