Humanistic Counsellor and Supervisor with the National Council of Independent Psychotherapists
An integrative Humanistic Counsellor working with clients aged 16+, couples and groups. Experience working in hospices with clients experiencing bereavement and life limiting illness and also with survivors of rape and sexual abuse.
What is counselling?
Life will always present us with challenges and difficult situations. Sometimes these challenges can get on top of us and we stop living and enjoying our lives as fully as we would like. This is where counselling can be of help.
Counselling is about offering a supportive relationship in a safe and confidential environment to talk through whatever is concerning them. Counselling is not about giving advice and counsellors can never be experts in other people’s lives. Counselling is about helping people find their unique strengths to work through a particular issue in the best way for them so that they can live their life to the fullest.
Individual Counselling
Whatever challenge life throws at us, I believe we all have the potential to deal with it successfully, move on and lead a happy life. I consider the most important foundation to successful counselling is the relationship between the counsellor and client. Being in a trustful, open and supportive relationship allows the client to really get to understand themselves, explore all of their unique and individual strengths and how they can best deal with and work through the concern at hand. This is all done at the client’s pace and is never rushed. I focus on what is happening with the client in the present. Sometimes it is important to talk about the past but only how it is affecting the client’s experience.
Some of the areas for which I offer counselling include:
Many people who have had these experiences have feelings of depression, anxiety and anger, all of which I work with in my counselling practice.
Couples Counselling
Many of us choose to share our lives with another person who is our partner through either the whole or a significant part of our life. A healthy relationship is where each person in a couple can be open and share their authentic needs with each other. In this way they get their needs met at least the majority of the time.
Sometimes this process gets interrupted and our relationship becomes turbulent, painful or a struggle. Some examples of what can cause this are:
Couples counselling is a process where with the proactive support of a counsellor the couple can explore what went wrong and find ways to resolve the problems they are having. This typically involves using the couples’ problem solving ability to come up with their own way through their problems.
Sometimes couples can decide that their best option is to dissolve the relationship and each find other partners that better meet their needs. Couples counselling can also offer support through this process that can often be painful.
Emotional Freedom Technique?
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a simple practical and user friendly technique similar to acupuncture but without using needles. It’s principle is that all symptoms of dis-ease have their root in an imbalance in the body’s energy system.
How does it work?
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) aims to remove any psychological blocks in the mind towards health and then re-tune the energy system in our body back to balance. We can then be well to lead fulfilling happy lives.
EFT works by tapping certain parts of the body (linked the meridian points in acupuncture) and saying simple words and phrases out loud about the specific problem being treated. Many people find it a bit “wackey and wierd” at first but when they see results and get used to it their inhibitions tend to evaporate.
EFT can produce quick results in some cases. However, normally when there are a number of parts (aspects) to a problem EFT needs to be carried out on all of them before the problem being treated is resolved and health can be maintained.
Although you need a practitioner to work with you, an advantage of EFT is that it can be practiced on your own. It is a simple tool that can help you with daily life.
What can it treat?
The wonderful potential of EFT is that it can be used to treat a number of mental and physical health problems by bringing our energy system back to balance. EFT is backed up by research and there are numerous reports of its positive benefits. It is typically used to treat the following, all of which I can offer as part of my practice:
I often carry out EFT in combination with other self help tools as appropriate for my client.
A short video on EFT is shown below:
About me
I am an integrative Humanistic Counsellor integrating person centred, Gestalt and Transactional Analysis. I have an advanced Diploma in Humanistic counselling and certificates in Couples and Group Counselling. I have a Diploma in Clinical Supervision. My Diploma allows me to work across many different areas of counselling using different modalities. I supervise face to face or online as my Supervisee wishes.
My philosophy and what I will provide
Supervision is about supporting, challenge at times, and facilitating someone’s practice. My intention is to bring the best out of you to allow you to deliver good therapy for your clients and facilitating your own creative process to unfold. A key component of my philosophy is not striving to find a quick solution but taking time to reflect on a wide range of different aspects for you and your client. It is about moving flexibly through different concepts and modalities as appropriate. I integrate and adapt the seven-eye model, cyclical model and Integrative Development Model of supervision according to the needs of my supervisee.
Fundamental to my supervision practice is the use of the therapeutic relationship. It is essential that we develop a collaborative, open and trusting relationship where you feel safe. My hope is that this will allow you to bring what you are finding difficult with your clients, explore any mis-timed or less well thought out interventions made and doubts about how to go forward without feeling judged.
My aim will be to support to keep safe from issues such as burnout and compassion fatigue and encourage hobbies outside work and time to relax. My hope is that this will help give the best of yourself to your clients as well as a high level of self-care. Safeguarding issues regarding their clients need to be brought to supervision such as risk of suicide or self-harm. This ensures you can fulfil your ethical responsibility to keep your client safe where possible, involving others where appropriate.
It will be important for us to develop and agree a contract for supervision. This will include administrative details such as time, fee, your learning style, any neurodiversity you wish to share, and frequency of meetings. I will also discuss with you what you expect from supervision and the process by which we do supervision in the session. Our contract will be reviewed regularly.
I will endeavour to provide the right balance of regular feedback in respect of what I consider went well and helping you to find your growing edge and helping you to develop confidence, autonomy, and self-awareness. I will also support you to resolve ethical dilemmas I would encourage you to take time to consider all the different aspects of the dilemma from different perspectives before deciding a way forward. I would help you to identify any cultural differences between them and their clients. The focus would be on how their own culture might influence how they perceive the client and how their client may perceive them and how this may influence the therapy.
How I work
My Supervision sessions last for 1 hour. They usually take place monthly, however I can offer further supervision either face to face, online or on the telephone if required. Ad hoc supervision in between monthly sessions is charged pro rata. Please note that if you cancel a session with less than 24 hours notice you will still need to pay for the missed session. I accept payment by cash or bank transfer.
I hold an Advanced Diploma in Humanistic Counselling. I have experience of working in hospices with clients experiencing bereavement and life limiting illness and also with survivors of rape and sexual abuse. I have also worked with a number of other different issues, for example relationship counselling, whilst working for different organisations. I currently work in private practice and I can offer either short term or long term counselling.
I hold a certificate in couples counselling and I work with couples in my private practice. I am a Certified level 2 practitioner in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) – tapping, and I am a teacher of yoga based meditation.
There are many different types of counselling. The best is the one that suits the client at the time. I work mainly with the Gestalt, Transactional Analysis and Brief Solutions Focused orientations of counselling. I can incorporate EFT and meditation into my work with clients as appropriate.
I am an accredited member of the National Council of Integrative Psychotherapists and a Certified Level 3 Practitioner with EFT International. I work to their ethical guidelines.
My contract
The first session is an opportunity for me to understand what brought you to counselling and for you to ask me whatever you wish to ask. We can then decide together whether or not I can be of help.
I ask for 24 hours notice of cancellation otherwise payment is required. I work with clients aged 16 and older.
We can meet for as many sessions as is helpful. Sudden endings whilst working through challenging issues is not always in the best interest of the client. I always recommend taking at least one (or more) sessions to do a proper ending. However, it is up to client when they choose to leave counselling.
Counselling is entirely confidential. However, it is necessary for me to take all my client work to a qualified supervisor who helps me provide the best counselling. The only other exception would be if I considered a client would seriously harm themselves or someone else. I would always seek to discuss this with the client, explain why and agree a way forward wherever possible.
Fees
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