Counselling
Through counselling, you can gain insight into your emotions and thoughts, identify patterns, increase self confidence and self acceptance.
This can lead to improved mental health and feelings of contentment and happiness.
My training is as an integrative therapist, which means I may draw on ideas from different psychotherapy theories and 'integrate' these in our work together.
We may consider your childhood, family or relationships and explore how what happened in the past may be influencing you now. We may also consider ways to move forward with greater self compassion and awareness, learning helpful strategies and ways of thinking that are empowering and self-supportive.
Underpinning all my work is empathy, genuineness, acceptance and the belief that you are the expert on your own life.
Please see my blog entry for a little more detail about how we might work together.
Where we start...
It is important to find the right counsellor for you. The therapeutic relationship is one of the most important factors in the success of therapy and so you need to feel that the therapist you choose is the right person.
For this purpose, I offer an initial free 20-30 minute conversation which we arrange by email.
The free consultation can be held on Zoom, Teams, Google Meets, or the telephone to determine if we would be a good fit to work together.
Then...
In our introductory call, I will ask you what has brought you to seek counselling and how you feel I may be able to help.
I will ask you a little about what you would like to work on, explain my way of working and practical arrangements for the sessions.
If we both feel that we would work well together, we can arrange to meet weekly or fortnightly at a time that works for both of us.
Sessions take place either in person, online or by telephone.
Finally...
The number of sessions is flexible but I usually suggest a minimum of 6, followed by a review. Some clients only want a few sessions but others may work with me for months or years. Both short and long term work are possible and will be negotiated between us.
The fee for a 50 minute counselling session is £55. I may be able to offer a reduced rate for counselling trainees. Please ask me about this.