Penny Simmonite - Profile

Taking the first step in acknowledging you might benefit from obtaining support from someone outside your family or friends, takes courage.  My aim is to create an environment where you can come and feel safe to talk about whatever is troubling you or causing you distress.

I offer a warm, open and supportive relationship and will treat you with sensitivity and care, giving you the time and space to explore what is going on for you, to feel heard and understood, to consider what changes you may wish to make to live a more fulfilling life.

As an integrative therapist, I use different therapeutic approaches, which allow me to tailor my work to you, my client, individually. The modalities I use are Gestalt, Humanistic (Person-Centred), Integrative, Psychodynamic and Solution Focused Brief Therapy Therapy (SFBT).

I believe that the therapeutic relationship that is created between us will allow us to work together, leading you to gain more insight, self-awareness and self-understanding.

I am an approved provider of therapeutic services for the following Private Medical Insurers: Aetna International, Aviva, AXA Health, Cigna Healthcare, and Vitality Health Care Insurance. I am also able to provide psychotherapeutic/counselling services to Healix members.

I have an Advanced Certificate in Relationship Therapy (COSRT accredited) for working with couples, and am ACTO approved for the provision of online and telephone counselling.

I have worked with adults and older adults in an NHS environment, in a workplace counselling service, and in private practice, working with chronic pain, low mood, memory loss, depression, anxiety, personality disorder, family relationships, trauma, abusive relationships, low self-esteem, childhood sexual abuse, loneliness and lack of direction, anxiety about parenting, self-care, grief, stress at work, redundancy, suicide ideation and self-harm.

Prior to my counselling career, I worked for a number of large FTSE 100 companies within the health and care industries.