Elizabeth Carter - Profile

As a qualified integrative psychotherapist/ counsellor, I provide a kind and compassionate approach focussing on listening within a supportive, safe and confidential environment. My areas of interest are in the emotional wellbeing of young people, working with adults through addictions and addictive behaviours problems in relationships and issues associated with the long-term effects of boarding school. I understand the difficulties that can be encountered in our lives and how these can trigger unhelpful patterns of behaviour and often overwhelming feelings. Together we can reflect on your thoughts and feelings to identify where they are coming from and how they impact you in the present, to help build self-esteem, inner confidence and improve relationships.

I have worked with children for over 15 years, experiencing a deep understanding of how they develop with the issues that can arise and I offer specialist support for young people. I am also specifically trained in working with adults experiencing relationship issues and addictive behaviours triggered by past experiences. My specialist interest, which I am continuing to contribute towards, is in working with the effects of childhood trauma, especially in connection with boarding school. Childhood experiences, such as being sent away to boarding school, can significantly impact our adult lives, triggering unhelpful behaviours and difficult feelings which can cause problems within our self and within relationships. I can help support you to explore and understand the impact of boarding school on adult life, with a particular focus on intimacy and relationships, to find a true sense of being.

Following 15 years of teaching and specialising in supporting specific learning difficulties, I continued my career through qualifying as a psychotherapeutic counsellor, with further qualifications in addiction and in specialist psychotherapy for ex-boarders. I have worked extensively in supporting children and young people within schools and as part of Place2Be. Further to this, I am specifically trained in working with adults who have experienced boarding school as a child and am currently in the process of contributing to a book, with Nick Duffell, which focusses on the effects of Boarding School Syndrome. My professional training also includes qualifications in the Psychology of Addiction and recovery from Stanford University, and I worked within drugs and alcohol services supporting people who were dealing with issues stemming from drug and alcohol misuse and mental health. I have received extensive training in drugs, alcohol, mental health and wellness.