Rachel Taylor - Profile

I am a qualified counsellor and full member of the BACP. I work with adults and older teens from my private practice in Guildford.

Life isn’t always easy and sometimes, being able to open up to another person who is able to help us to explore our lives, can help us get things into perspective.  This clarity, in turn, can enable us to prioritise the more important things in life, providing relief from the unstructured turmoil we sometimes find ourselves in.

This is where a counsellor can be of help to you.  Listening to your experiences, having the ability to ‘put myself into your shoes’, whilst at the same time ensuring a measure of objectivity remains, puts me in the ideal position to enable you to be able to view your life more clearly.  It will be your journey, but one which I will accompany you on.  Ensuring you feel our therapy room is a safe, non-judgemental space to open up in, as well as establishing trust between us early on, is key.  I approach sessions with genuine, but sensitive, honesty, enabling you to learn more about yourself and, as a result, recognise how you can make changes for the better in how you live your life.

I see adults and young people (18 and over), one-to-one. Face-to-face, long and short-term, depending on the client’s needs.  Daytime and early evening appointments are also available.

I have worked with young people and adults in an NHS environment, as well as in private practice.  Prior to my counselling career, I worked at a corporate level in finance, within FTSE 100 companies, for 20 years.

I have experience in working with issues of self-esteem, anxiety, depression, bereavement/impending bereavement, terminal illness, ongoing illness, life after serious illness, relationship issues, self-harm, family issues, childhood trauma, anger, feelings of guilt, loneliness, after-effects of divorce, self-image and clients requiring support through difficult times in their lives.

I am Humanistically trained, which means I use the relationship between us to enable the exploration of your difficulties.  Once trust is established and the relationship develops, my hope is that you will become comfortable with opening up and exploring your thoughts and feelings with me, knowing that doing so is safe and confidential.  I adopt various Humanistic interventions in my sessions, depending on which seems most appropriate to you and your individual circumstances.

I am a registered member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) and I adhere to its Ethical Framework, in particular with regard to its requirements for continuing professional development.

If you would like to know how counselling might help, please do contact me via email/phone for an initial conversation.