What is counselling?
Counselling is a place to explore and work through emotional distress. Whatever brings you to counselling, whether it is a trauma, a relationship breakdown, a life transition that feels hard or perhaps a general feeling of unease that you wish to explore, I will work alongside you to provide a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space for you to bring your whole self and together we will figure out the source of your discomfort and ways to heal.
It can be challenging at times, but it will very likely also be joyful, exhilarating and reparative.
There is no time frame, some people wish to see a counsellor for a short period and wok on a particular problem and others may wish to work along side their counsellor for many years, I am trained in both and we will decide together what works for you.
The first time we meet we will talk through what you hope to gain from counselling and what to expect, there is no requirement to continue together after this session unless we both agree.
What type of counselling do you provide?
I work as an integrative humanistic counsellor, which means I have been trained in a number of different ways of working.
The humanistic part means the focus is on your experiences and who you are as a whole person. I do not advise or tell you what to do, rather I work alongside you to figure out together what works best for you.
I often bring in a psychodynamic way of working which brings in past experiences, especially childhood and how that impacts on your current relationships.
An important part of the work is the relationship between counsellor and client. Which means as well as exploring more generally what's happening for you, we may also bring in things that happen within our relationship too, sometimes what happens in the room may be reflecting what's happening in your life outside and we can use the safety of our relationship in which to explore that.
What is expected of me?
Therapeutic healing is most effective with regular and consistent attendance. So a commitment to weekly sessions is the first step.
You have to want to change, and understand that the change comes from you and an acceptance that my role is to support you to find how best you can support yourself.
Be open to the process of therapy, and a recognition that healing can be hard sometimes but you will be supported.
From there we shall be led by your needs in session. You may want to come with something you'd like to talk about or you can see what comes up in session. Depending on your needs I may use different modalities of working but they will be what feels right for you in that moment and based on our individual relationship.
Is counselling confidential?
Yes, Counselling is a safe confidential space where you can discuss anything, particular conditions on confidentiality apply which i will discuss when we meet. I do take some notes for my own process working together and all clients are taken to supervision.
Is your service accessible for all?
I offer low cost sessions for those on low income.
My therapy room is on the bottom floor, so access to the therapy room is through my front door and along a narrow hallway. My toilet is upstairs so this would make accessibility difficult for some.
I can offer online sessions for anyone who would struggle to see me in person.
I am LGBTQ+ friendly, which means that I hold in mind that lived experiences such a biphobia, transphobia, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination experienced by clients are real and significant forms of structural inequality and may be part of what brings you to therapy.