Debbie Gillespie

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MSc Psych PGCD BACP (Accd) UKCP Psychotherapist & Supervisor
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

Leamington Spa CV31 & Warwick CV34
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I am a UKCP registered Clinical Psychotherapist and Supervisor with BACP Accreditation using Person Centred and Transactional Analysis therapies. I offer a free session so that clients have the opportunity to decide if I am the right therapist for them.

I offer a confidential service, using an approach that is focused on the results clients want to achieve. I work with people who are over 18 years including couples, groups and family work. Day-time, evening and weekend appointments are available.

My practice is accessible from the Warwick and Coventry Universities, the surrounding villages and near to major employers.

My Belief

My beliefs are based on the basic principles of Transactional Analysis: everyone has worth, can think and make decisions for themselves, their lives and are able to re-make their decisions in the "here-and-now",

Everyone has the right and the ability to fulfil their own potential and growth in life, and I offer the opportunity to explore your potential through therapy in a confidential, supportive and safe environment.

Why Therapy?

You may be exploring therapy for a number of reasons.  You may be trying to cope with the loss of a partner or family member, the breakdown or difficulty of a relationship, trying to make sense of something which happened during your childhood or any other personal reason.

You may have a need to identify and change what you might think is unhealthy behaviour.  You may not be clear about the reasons for starting therapy, and that’s okay.

Many of us experience a general sense of unhappiness, anxiety, dissatisfaction and use therapy as a way of finding out what our thoughts, feelings and behaviours mean.

There are no right or wrong reasons.  It just takes willingness and some time to look closer at your concerns which you can’t make sense of on your own.

Many of my clients have been referred by existing or previous clients, and I have a high success rate with people engaged in professional roles, including business owners, doctors, lawyers and teachers.

What is Transactional Analysis?

Transactional Analysis (TA) is a set of practical conceptual tools for personal growth and change, and a social psychology developed by Eric Berne MD.  According to Berne, Transactional Analysis is a powerful tool for human well-being that utilises the “Adult”, in both the client and therapist to sort out thoughts, feelings and behaviours that result in personal difficulties.

As your therapist, I will work directly with you in the "here-and-now" to establish an equal and transparent working relationship and help to provide you with day-to-day tools to finding constructive and creative solutions to your problems.

The main TA concepts that we'll use during our work are that you are able to think clearly and develop new options and outcomes to your problems.  Transactional Analysis will help us to look at how we often re-play childhood strategies in grown-up life, even when these produce results which are self-defeating or painful.  I will also give you tools which you will be able to use in between sessions.

You are the expert on you and how you feel, think and behave, I will provide the expertise to understand yourself, your problems, the way you communicate with others, what you want to change and how you can change things in a way which suits you. We will make a contract for the changes and how I will help you to make these. During the process, you will acquire some of the theory and models used which will help you to continue to develop when the therapy is over. These are easily remembered and applied - they are very intuitive.

You may wish to see some basic Transactional Analysis by accessing the website of one of my professional bodies: United Kingdom Association for Transactional Analysis, where the basic concepts are explained.

This link takes you to the relevant pages:

www.uktransactionalanalysis.co.uk/transactional-analysis/what-is-ta


Transactional Analysis is used in all types of psychological matters from every day living problems to mental health difficulties - including child development. It provides a method of therapy for individuals, couples and families.

Professional Bodies

I am a registered member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), and I am an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the United Kingdom Association for Transactional Analysis (UKATA) and the European Association of Transactional Analysis (EATA) and abide by their guidelines for good practice and ethics.

I am also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and, if appropriate, can offer personal or career coaching. I abide by the CIPD’s code of conduct for professional and ethical practice.

Other Information

As well as working in private practice, I have worked within the counselling service departments of local charities, including working with clients who have been bereaved and clients who are adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.  I have also undertaken a clinical placement at a local acute psychiatric unit and community psychiatric centre (NHS).

I have worked in industry as a Human Resources Manager, helping employees to achieve their goals and potential.  My Human Resources experience allows me to successfully work with employers by providing Employee Assistance Programmes including counselling employees through the process of returning to work after long-term sick leave, redundancy, retirement and other employment-related matters.

I also help people to develop good coping strategies for working with difficult or unreasonable bosses.

Areas of Particular Interest

-       Low self-esteem

-       Anger management

-       Addictions

-       Bereavement

-       Couples counselling

-       Depression

-       Anxiety

-       Psychosexual therapy

-       Abuse

-       Relationship issues

-       Career counselling

-       Dementia

-       Child related issues

-       Stress

-       Eating disorders

-       Low self-confidence

-       Work related issues

-       Bullying

-       Sexuality

-       Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

-       Trauma

-       Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

-       Phobias

-       Post Natal Depression

-       Bipolar Disorder/Manic Depression

-       Personality Disorders

-       Sexual abuse

-       Affairs and betrayals

-       Schizophrenia

-       Tourettes Syndrome

-       Alcohol dependence

-       Generalised anxiety

-       Emotional abuse

-       Bing eating disorder

-       Drug abuse

-       Gambling

-       Borderline Personality Disorder

-       Panic Disorder

-       Anorexia Nervosa

-       Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Training Courses Available:

An introduction to key concepts and methods in Transactional Analysis (TA)

There are no entry requirements to attend this course. It's really for everyone, both therapists and their clients can benefit from learning about themselves and others, and how this learning can help in living a better life and to relate to others more satisfyingly.

The TA101 is a two-day course; it is internationally recognised and follows a standardised syllabus. You will find the full specifications on the website of the European Association for Transactional Analysis: www.eatanews.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Section-4-TA-101.pdf

Training goals:

The purpose of the TA 101 is to provide an introduction and overview of TA, its philosophy, approaches, theories and models.

Projected learning outcomes:

On completion, you will be familiar with the concepts of the ego-states, script, games, rackets and transactions, as well as the philosophy and history of TA. You will be able to apply basic TA concepts to problem-solving and able to classify a range of interpersonal behaviours and processes using basic TA concepts.

On completion of the course:

You will be awarded a validation certificate issued by the United Kingdom Association for Transactional Analysis, the professional body for TA in the UK. This training will count as twelve hours of Continuous Professional Development for most professional bodies.

The syllabus:

Definition of TA.
A contractual method.
Definition of ego-states.
Structural model of ego-states.
Recognition and diagnosis of ego-states.
Functional model: controlling parent, adult, free child and adapted child.
Contamination and exclusion of ego-states.
Strokes of recognition.
Types of transactions.
Discounts: definitions of discounts.
Levels of discounts and reasons for discounting.
Social time structuring: stimulus hunger and the six ways of structuring time.
Definitions of games: reasons for playing games, advantages of games and examples.
Ways of describing games and the process of acting them out: drama triangle and winners' triangle.
Racket analysis: rackets, trading stamps, the relationship of rackets and transactions.
The life positions: the four life positions.
Definitions of script and the origin of the script using childhood experiences.
Injunctions, counter-injunctions and driver behaviours.
Autonomy: the definition of autonomy, awareness, spontaneity and the capacity for intimacy.

Fee: £120 for a weekend of training

Training, qualifications & experience

Member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), 2013 - registration number 2011163858.

Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP), 2004. Accreditation achieved in March 2015.

Member of the of the United Kingdom Association of Transactional Analysis (UKATA), 2006.

Member of the European Association of Transactional Analysis (EATA), 2011.

Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CMCIPD), 1997.

PTSTA(Psychotherapy) - UKCP Registered Supervisor, 2016.

Certificate in Person Centred Counselling, Warwickshire College, 2004.

Diploma in Person Centred Counselling, Warwickshire College, 2008.

TA 101 Transactional Analysis, Berne Institute, Kegworth, 2005.

Foundation Certificate in Transactional Analysis, Berne Institute, Kegworth, 2005.

Post Graduate Clinical Diploma in Transactional Analysis Counselling, Middlesex University, 2011.

Certified Transactional Analyst as awarded by the European Association for Transactional Analysis, 2013.

MSc in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy, Middlesex University, 2013.

Group Therapy, Berne Institute, Kegworth, 2009.

Phobia Therapy, Berne Institute, Kegworth, 2010.

OCN course in Bereavement, Myton Hospice, Warwick, 2005.

Couples Counselling, Berne Institute, Kegworth, 2008.

Diploma in Coaching, The Coaching Academy, 2009.

Professional Excellence Workshop, The Berne Institute, 2015.

Provisional Training and Supervising Transactional Analyst 2016

UKCP Registered Supervisor 2016

Supervision training course with Robin Shohet - Graystone Consulting, 2020

Member organisations

Registered / Accredited

Registered / Accredited

Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.

BACP
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP)

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.

UKCP
UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)

The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.

As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.

UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.

Accredited register membership

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
Accredited Register Scheme

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.

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

Other areas of counselling I deal with

Supervision
Personal development
Facing change including: retirement, divorce, separation, redundancy, disability, menopause, children leaving home
Dealing with loneliness
Personal and corporate coaching
Student therapy and coaching

Fees

£50.00 per session
Free initial in-person session

Concessions offered for

  • Low income
  • Keyworkers
  • Students
  • Trainee counsellors

Health Insurance/EAP

  • Aviva
  • Axa Health
  • BUPA
  • Vitality
  • WPA

Additional information

The first session is free, as this gives us the opportunity to mutually explore whether Counselling and Psychotherapy is right for you. If we both feel that it's the right course of action, the session will cost £50 per hour for individuals, and £75 per one and a half hours for couples.

Group, On-line and Telephone Counselling and Psychotherapy is available, and the fees are as follows:

Group - £20 per person per session.

On-line and Telephone - £50 per hour.

Group Supervision: £40 per hour

Coaching - the fee structure is available upon application.

When I work

Day-time, evening and week-end appointments available.

Further information

I occasionally have places available within a group. If this is something you are interested in, please contact me on 07990 517284.

I can also offer weekend appointments - Saturday and Sunday.

Kensington House Counselling Service Limited, 15 St Mary's Road, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV31 1JW

Warwick, CV34 5BZ

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone
Home visits

Types of client

Young people
Adults
Older Adults
Couples
Families
Groups
Organisations
Employee Assistance Programme

Supervision

In person
Online
Phone

I am on the UKCP and BACP supervisors' registers and also registered with the United Kingdom Association of Transactional Analysts as a PTSTA which means I can supervise and train psychotherapy candidates up to CTA or Master's degree level.

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Debbie Gillespie
Debbie Gillespie