Counselling/Therapy
I have been a full-time Counsellor since 1986.
From 2012-2016 I was an NHS Senior Psychological Therapist.
Counselling/Therapy aims to assist you to develop your potential for greater
self-understanding and self-acceptance, and move toward a more effective
and fulfilling life - including the ability to form and sustain
satisfying and mutually meaningful relationships.
Therapy
is therefore a form of personal learning that will help you to become
more “psychologically minded” and self-aware so that as your awareness
grows you are clearer about the decisions you need to make and how best
to overcome any dilemmas - emotional, mental, or ethical.
The
am is to help you to learn from the experiences you have and enable you
to make positive choices that will change life and make it more
fulfilling. It is both an exciting and a challenging process, but one
that has many personal rewards!
Choosing to
engage in therapy is a significant decision as it will require a
commitment from you to a process of self reflection that often does
touch into difficult feelings and experiences. By exploring your lived
experience in this way you may also experience moments of relief,
emotional repair and insight that are the ground from which to make
decisions and take actions that are more aligned to a deepening sense of
well-being.
It is important that as a client
you feel confident in the therapy process and to help this I will
provide a structure for meetings with relevant and regular reviews to
help us both to track your progress. At such reviews - usually every six
to ten weeks - there is an opportunity for us each to decide to either
continue the therapy or to bring it to an end.
The core of my approach is to provide a peaceful, emotionally safe space and a therapeutic relationship
characterised by acceptance, empathy, respect and genuineness through
which your personal exploration is possible.
Since 1985 I have many years experience of helping clients whose lives have
been affected by specific difficulties or concerns, including:
- relationship problems;
- depression and/or suicidal feelings;
- anxiety, phobias and stress;trauma;
- eating disorders;
- drugs and substance misuse;
- bereavement and loss;
- sexuality and gender;
- personal identity;
- spiritual crisis.
New
developments in Positive Psychology and neuro-psychology indicate the
relevance of focusing on each individual’s strengths and I incorporate
this into all of my client work.
All of my counselling/therapy with clients accords with the ethical standards of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) - (see here for details)