Amanda Bouvier

Specialities

On a more personal note, both ASD and ADHD run on both sides of my family. I have also been working with wonderful neurodivergent clients since 2010, ranging from primary-school aged children to older adults.  I have extensive knowledge of ASD and ADHD, and I pride myself on helping such clients to celebrate who they are, embrace the beautiful colours that make them their unique selves, and supporting them in finding ways to better cope with the daily challenges that life might present them with.

In addition to offering weekly 50-minute therapy sessions to people with ASD or/and ADHD, I also offer pre-diagnostic assessments to people who think they may have either or both of the above conditions, and would like to explore the possibility of this before potentially booking an appointment to receive an official diagnosis. The assessments that I offer typically last between 90 minutes and two hours. By the end of the assessment, clients have a very good idea of whether or not they have ASD or ADHD (or both) and are provided with a written report of my findings.  NB: The latter would not be an official diagnosis; however, my report would is able to facilitate clients' journeys to receiving a diagnosis, without which can sometimes prove to be a lengthy and difficult process, depending on the route taken.

My Qualifications

I am a BACP-accredited, Advanced DBS-checked, fully qualified integrative counsellor and psychotherapist. I also hold a BACP Certificate of Proficiency, and am a member of the BACP Register for counsellors and Psychotherapists.

I work in accordance with the BACP Ethical Framework, and have a CPCAB Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. I also hold a Masters of Arts Degree (MA) in Psychoanalysis & Contemporary Society, a BA Honours Degree in modern languages, and Certificates in Counselling Theory and Counselling Skills.  I have also completed and passed exams/assessments for the following two Open University courses: 'Science of the Mind' (examining the roots of depression, anxiety and other mental health problems) and 'Challenging Ideas in Mental Health' (exploring mental health problems from the perspective of the client, and examining ways to challenge public stigma surrounding mental ill-health). 

I also hold a Certificate in Play Therapy for working with Child Clients.

My Training

I trained to become a counsellor with The Therapeutic Alliance Counselling Training (Harrow, Middlesex), which is run by two highly experienced senior practitioners.  The duration of my training was just over four years, and gave me a very thorough grounding in Integrative counselling.  One of my tutors had been working as a private psychotherapist for over 2 decades, and was also a qualified neurologist.  My other tutor was running her own counselling practice and also worked as a clinical supervisor.  The reason I chose to train Integratively was because of the scope that it gives both the counsellor and the client.  Each and every one of us is unique and no one suit can fit all; Integrative counsellor training introduces the trainee counsellor to various therapeutic theories, some of which are geared towards helping clients explore unresolved childhood or past issues, whilst others might focus on more current difficulties, such as a separation, job-loss or bereavement.

My Masters Degree in Psychoanalysis C/S helped further my knowledge and understanding of the impact of the past on present-day well-being, and how the unconscious mind and our inner-child drive us to feel or behave in ways that leave us feeling down or dissatisfied with life. This course enabled me to build on the experience I already had in working with clients on a long-term basis, furthering my knowledge of Freudian and Kleinian concepts, to assist me in helping clients explore more deep-rooted and often painful issues relating to childhood and relationships with parents.

Work Experience

I opened my private practice in 2012, and have a wealth of experience in providing counselling and psychotherpy to adults of all ages, as well as children and adolescents. 

Prior to working privately, I worked on a voluntary basis in a primary-school, offering one-to-one counselling sessions to children aged 4-11 years. The training I completed prior to this role offering me a good grounding in how to effectively deliver talking and play-therapy to younger clients.

I also spent 3 years working voluntarily for Link Counselling Service - a wonderful organisation that provides counselling to young people aged 13-25 years.

Working with Adults of All Ages: My Theoretical Integration

I place importance on helping clients to understand the impact of their unconscious mental processes, and how bringing them in to conscious thought can create the opportunity to explore painful, unprocessed material within the safety of the therapy room, whilst also helping the client to decide how they might go about making positive changes to their life. Our unconscious feelings and actions belong to our inner-child, and as humans we tend to create patterns of behaviour that we are sometimes not even aware we are doing, but are very aware that we feel unhappy none-the-less. Exploring our unconscious processes, patterns, childhood events and relationships with significant others when we are growing up are therapeutic concepts that fall under what we call the 'psychodynamic' model.

Although the psychodynamic model underpins much of my work, I also incorporate humanistic concepts derived from Transactional Analysis (TA) and Gestalt in to my clinical work. In simple terms TA, from a relational perspective, enables clients to explore how they may have come to assume the role of 'rescuer', for example, in relationships with others, and how this may be contributing to their sense of low mood or poor self-esteem as they struggle to constantly shoulder the problems of others. Or one might find themselves often feeling victimized, and exploring what lies behind this often proves useful in helping clients to cultivate healthier relationships with others. The way that I incorporate elements of Gestalt in to my work is by helping clients to tackle painful 'unfinished business'. That is, important things that they would have liked to have said to someone (often a loved-one) but were for whatever reason unable to at the time. Becoming familiar with how the body somatizes (physically feels) emotions is also a valuable aspect of the Gestalt model that I incorporate in to my clinical work, to help clients become aware of when they are about to, for example, start becoming anxious.  


Common Questions:

Q: Isn’t talking about the past a waste of time because we can’t change it?

A: Not at all!  As humans we sometimes get stuck on past events that we seem unable to move on from.  This can lead to low self-esteem or feeling down.  We feel we can’t talk about our problems to others, or when we do we find little resolve. Unprocessed childhood or past events can negatively impact on present-day life without us even noticing; for example, we might find friendships or relationships in general difficult to handle but don’t understand why.  Or we may feel plagued with unhelpful thoughts and are unaware that their roots lie in difficult past events that we have not yet processed, as mentioned earlier.  During my counselling career I have supported clients in exploring difficulties that stem from relationships with parents during childhood, or issues occurring from the more recent past, and in doing so have received very positive feedback on the insight in to themselves that clients have gained.  I truly believe that understanding how we tick as individuals opens up the pathway to self-acceptance, which in turn leads to a freer and more contented life. The unconscious provides us with a goldmine of clues as to why we feel the way we do, and how we could go about developing a healthier relationship with ourselves, other people and our pasts if we are willing to work through painful life experiences that have as yet remained unprocessed. It is my job as your therapist to help you recognize unconscious clues to what lies in the way of you gaining greater satisfaction in life, which have often become buried among the conscious rationalizations that lead us humans from one dead-end to another.


Q: Why do I leave some sessions feeling very positive and others feeling emotionally raw?

A: This is a very important question to raise. Feeling emotionally up and down is not uncommon for some clients, especially during the beginning and middle phases of their therapeutic process, but with my support this should feel manageable and worth the long-term gains. Upon starting work with new clients, I like to find out what they expect and hope to gain from their experience, explaining that the long-term benefits of therapy generally far outweight those times when one why they feel this way if therapy is supposed to be a helpful process rather than an upsetting one! Being human means managing the difficult aspects of life in order to appreciate all the good that life can also offer, and talking about painful life-experiences can often feel rather alien to those who have become accustomed to simply burying their feelings. Often, clients enter therapy feeling that ignoring feelings has worked well for them over the years, enabling them to function, until they suddenly find themselves in a state of depression, low mood or anxiety and are puzzled as to why this has happened. It is only upon beginning to air one's pain rather than pushing it away that we are able to understand how the unsaid must be verbalized in order to break down the barriers that stand in the way of truly understanding the self.


More on Bereavement: When People or Companion Animals Die

I have supported people of all ages struggling to cope with a whole range of losses. This includes the death of a friend, relative, acquaintance or a beloved companion animal. Whatever the surrounding circumstances, loss is processed differently from person to person and depends on many factors. For  those who have lost an animal through natural causes, accident or euthanasia, or are considering having their pet euthanised, emotions associated with this can be overwhelming and yet often not talked about in society in general.  I worked for two years on the Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service's helpline, supporting callers who had lost a companion animal or were considering euthanisation for their pet.  Talking through their situation or loss helped them to feel less alone, validate their emotions, and supported them on their way to eventual acceptance of what they sadly could not change.  If you are facing a similar situation and would prefer to talk face-to-face, making that call to arrange a counselling appointment with me could be the first step in working through your feelings.

Free initial telephone session

• Week-day afternoon and evening appointments