Sara French
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
COUNSELLING
I am an experienced telephone and online therapist and during COVID lockdown am offering both to clients in the first instance.
Free Initial Appointment
Working with individuals 18+
Centrally located private practice in Chippenham
Registered Member of British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy with over 25 years experience.
We don't need to live constrained by the past or anxious about the future. You may be in crisis right now, wanting to tackle something that has been with you for a long time or seeking greater self awareness.
My Practice is Humanistic and encompasses Person Centred, Relational and sensori-motor approaches. I can tailor my way of working to your needs and offer both short and long term therapy. Counselling can be challenging but you will experience sessions as safe, warm and unconditional.
How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me - Leonard Cohen
Alongside my counselling practice I work with individuals and groups in natural settings.
HIRETH WOODLAND THERAPY
Within private ancient woodland between Chippenham and Bath you can encounter the other than human and sense the more than human in yourself as it is reflected in a landscape teeming with opportunity for realisation, clarity, transition and peace of mind.
Natural Mindfulness
My curiosity about notions that modern ways of living and disconnect may have a negative effect on our mental health have lead me to explore dispensing with the walls and roof and working together in the natural environment.
The traditional counselling environment doesn't suit everyone and there is a growing body of research that supports ideas that being outside is good for our mental health. I invite you to sample being truly present in nature. This need not be strenuous. We can simply walk or sit outside.
I am a Natural Mindfulness Guide. Please enquire about groups. Natural Mindfulness is simply the act of walking mindfully in Nature; more deeply it is fostering awareness of the fundamental nature of our being, reality and existence. The practice is a route to improved health and wellbeing and an antidote to many of the health issues associated with modern-day living.
LIFE EXPERIENCE
I have practiced counselling for more than 25 years.
I grew up on a farm in Wiltshire, lived in Denmark for a while and have worked with adults and children in the fields of Education, Social Care and Criminal Justice. I play guitar and the Irish drum.
I am interested in advances in neuroscience and the growing understanding of and treatment of trauma. I practice mindfulness and meditation and have had many hours of my own therapy. I have an insatiable love of landscape and photography and the healing power of Nature.
“When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams…”
Carl Rogers
Training, qualifications & experience
- Advanced Diploma Person Centred Counselling (BACP Accredited Course)
- Diploma in Counselling Level III
- 25 years counselling experience (individuals & couples)
- Training counselling students, foster carers and other professionals
- Natural Mindfulness Guide Training
- Work for the NHS and Local Authority and Employee Assistance Programmes
- Registered Member of BACP and adhering to their ethical framework and standards of confidentiality
- Fully Insured
- Criminal Records Bureau Enhanced Disclosure
- Regularly undergoing supervision and personal development
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred).
Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision.
Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training.
All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Personal Development
Counselling is often regarded as something we do when something is 'wrong'. Many people benefit from using counselling perhaps once each month to help them 'stay well'.
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
Additional information
Indoor fee range is between £40 and £50 (50 minutes) depending on circumstances.
When I work
Telephone & Online Counselling during the COVID lockdown. Daytime in Ancient Woodland, Wiltshire.
Further information
Please enquire about:
Group work
Family Work/Parenting
Counselling via Email or Telephone
