Rosemary Sandham

There are times when we may feel overwhelmed or find life difficult. Maybe trying to cope with stress, anxiety, depression, panic attacks or relationship issues. Sometimes we may want to get to know and understand ourselves more and explore how we really want to live our lives.

Support from somebody on the outside can help you understand what’s going on and create new ways to think about yourself and your relationships with others. Discovering obstacles that may be holding you back, you can learn to make better choices, feel calmer and more optimistic about your life.

Helping You Now

You may feel you have tried everything and feel rather hopeless about making changes. I am very approachable and I can support help you explore your difficulties and find effective solutions that really work for you now.

I am a BACP (British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy) Accredited Person Centred Counsellor with more than 22 years experience helping many people make significant changes in their lives. I have worked effectively with people with various issues including anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, low self worth,  managing change, bereavement, intergenerational trauma, dealing with anger,  panic attacks, and alcohol problems.

What to expect

We can arrange to meet for an initial session to explore how we could work together. I would support you and work with you in a way that suits your needs. We will look at how you can find a way through problems so your life can be more satisfying and enjoyable. As you become more self aware, you can relate to yourself in a  way that will really make a difference and offers the opportunity to change.

I offer a time limited, solution-focused approach for issues which may have occurred relatively recently in your life such as bereavement or relationship issues. I also provide psychotherapy for any problems that are more complex and long term including anxiety and depression.

Having worked in large organisations at senior level and ran various companies, I understand the challenges related to work and career and I can help you achieve a better work/ life balance in order to improve your well being. I also have considerable experience as a careers counsellor and coach.

Getting started...

I work from west London in private practice 5 minutes walk from Ealing Broadway Tube and Rail station. I also offer online and telephone sessions. 

You can also ring me for a chat on 0208 621 1378 or 07880 706420, or via email. 

If you would like to find out more about me please see my websites; www.sandiar.com
and www.sandiar.co.uk

• Career Counselling
• Living with chronic illness
• Dysthymia

I offer Mindfulness Based Approaches including

• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
• Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
• Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) Mindfulness
• Mindfulness Training For The Workplace

Therapeutic approaches such as Person Centred Therapy, Mindfulness and Therapy including; Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindful Self Compassion along with the most recent science from the fields of neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology inform both counselling and mindfulness. Mindfulness can really enhance counselling, providing a wonderful toolkit for you to use in between sessions.

Mindfulness helps us stay fully present in each moment rather than getting entangled in the past or the future. And so we are able to feel more in control, balanced and have more choice in how we react to daily demands. Mindfulness helps us live more joyful and meaningful lives.

Neuro-scientific research indicates that people who have a regular mindfulness practice are calmer, more relaxed, more focused, more productive, and happier.

Individuals £75 per session

I offer a flexible range of sessions daytime and evenings and Saturdays

I also offer online and telephone counselling.

Fees may be covered by private medical insurance

Benefits of counselling

• Increased self awareness and the ability to know what you want and how to get what you want.
• Enhanced awareness of your feelings and the ability to act appropriately.
• You will value yourself more and want to satisfy your needs rather than doing what others think you should be doing.
• Your relationships may change; you may enjoy improved relationships or be able to end relationships that don't satisfy you.

Testimonials

“Great sessions, has been paramount in helping me combat my anxiety/depression. Furthermore, it has provided with me the tools to help me while I’m on my own.” Thanks again. DG February 2018

"I have been reflecting that it is about a year since I stopped seeing you.I am well and happy and have, what I suspect, are entirely normal day-to-day thoughts. I am convinced that you have helped me to change the way that I think, see myself and approach the world. On that basis, I felt it was important that I convey my thanks again and let you know quite how important a job it is you have done for me" ST. 2017

"I started seeing Rosemary to help with anxiety and obsessive thoughts that were dominating my life. I had tried counselling before but hadn't felt comfortable or that things were getting any easier and so eventually gave up. Rosemary was immediately different - I found her supportive, non judgmental and involved. We combined therapy with an eight week mindfulness course. The mindfulness has given me strategies to deal with my anxiety and to change my pattern of thinking while therapy helped me to get to the bottom of why I had developed my issues in the first place. We did 90 minute sessions so that there was time for both mindfulness and therapy and I found that starting the session with a mindfulness practice put me in the right frame of mind to talk openly about my difficulties. Ten months on and I feel a thousand times more confident, positive and in control of my thoughts. I couldn't recommend Rosemary more highly and feel entirely in her debt for helping me get this far" ST 2016

"I Started seeing Rosemary in Jan 2014 for Some Issues I had with Anxiety and Depression. It was my second time seeing a Counsellor. I Didn't get on with my first experience of counselling and was a bit concerned that all counsellors where like that.However Within My first couple of sessions with Rosemary I knew that it was going to work as she really listened to what I had  to say and what my issues were. Something that my previous counsellor hadn't done. She gave me great approaches to use including mindfulness, and offered me support when I needed it." BP  2015

"My Counselling came to a natural end in July 2014. And I left feeling a lot stronger emotionally and with a toolkit of coping Strategies that I use in my daily life now." AP 2015

"I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Rosemary to anybody who Needed help dealing with Anxiety and Depression." KY 2014

Mindfulness

We train our bodies to become fit, flexible and healthy, however, we often ignore our minds which may lead to unhealthy or troubled minds.

Learning mindfulness enables you to develop a healthier mind, enabling you to become more focused, centered, calm and self aware.

Mindfulness is fitness training for the mind.

What is Mindfulness?

We often find that when we are stressed, depressed, anxious or suffering from pain or chronic illness, we tend act in a habitual manner, adopting ways of coping which may not help us and could actually exacerbate the problem. We may be continuously thinking of ways to resolve our problems or to distract ourselves by over eating, drinking too much or procrastinating. We may be judgmental, criticising ourselves in a way that is harsh and unkind. This can leave us feeling exhausted, debilitated, with our confidence and self esteem spiralling ever downwards.

When we become mindful, paying attention to the breath, the body, thoughts and feelings, we are able to fully be with our experience. This can help us notice when we are engaged in automatic negative thinking, being judgmental or entertaining our inner critic. We develop wisdom and the skillful means to relate more effectively to our difficulties in a way that is kind and compassionate. Accepting what we cannot change and letting go of resistance to what is actually happening.

This liberates us to start to really feel alive rather than living life on automatic pilot.

We are not striving to change anything but paradoxically by becoming present to all of our experience we often discover that life becomes more enjoyable. We are able to develop a more intimate relationship with ourselves and enjoy improved relationships with others. We also become more productive and happy.

"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf".Jon Kabat-Zinn

I can also include mindfulness as part of my counselling and coaching.

Mindfulness Therapy combines mindfulness with therapy. This approach uses mindfulness to enable you to become centered and fully focused so that you can then be more receptive to the therapy session that follows. It involves learning various mindfulness practices in the session which you can practice in between sessions.

I also use mindfulness when working with attachment issues as mindfulness can help people develop a secure internal base which enables healing of attachment wounds to take place.

To learn more about mindfulness and the comprehensive research that supports its effectiveness see:

• www.bemindful.co.uk
• www.mindfulnet.org
• www.oxfordmindfulness.org
• www.bangor.ac.uk/mindfulness
• www.franticworld.com