Anna Purser

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MA, MBACP(reg)
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

London, SW12
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I understand that, whether attending as an individual or a couple, it can take courage to start therapy and often a good deal of strength to continue. I feel that therapy should respond to clients’ presenting emotions and feelings, often on a session by session basis, even though these may relate to past experience. I value working creatively, as well as with laughter, to ensure that each session responds and acknowledges my clients as they need, helping them gradually piece together parts of their lives that may seem disjointed, conflicted or out of true.

One of my clients described his need for psychotherapy as deriving from a “collision of traumas”. For others, reasons include:

  • depression
  • anxiety
  • stress
  • loss
  • entrenched patterns of thoughts and feelings
  • problems within their relationships
  • health
  • lack of self- esteem and loss of self
  • change; trauma, crisis – the feeling that life should be better.

Sometimes clients find it difficult to express or define what is wrong, but feel life seems almost impossible to get through on a daily basis and they want to explore why, and how it can be improved.

I believe the therapeutic journey should be undertaken in the safety of an affirmative client-therapist relationship in which clients are helped to recognise, explore, understand and begin to address their problems and develop their true selves.  As a relational integrative therapist I draw from a number of modalities, or schools of therapeutic thought, to help clients emerge from therapy feeling emotionally stronger with a clearer, more individuated sense of self and renewed awareness of what gives their lives meaning.

I believe thatThe first step towards not being unconsciously influenced by something is to become conscious of it” Dass (2000) cited by Faris & van Ooijen (2012).

Training, qualifications & experience

I am a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with a diploma, post graduate diploma and MA in Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling.

I have worked within the NHS, counselling agencies and in private practice carrying out short and long term work with a diverse range of presenting issues and clients.  Attending regular supervision and continuing professional development, I work in a non-judgemental manner, respectful of client autonomy and confidentiality, in accordance with the ethical code of the BACP.

My background, before psychotherapy, was in the fine and applied arts and then the voluntary sector where I worked with a wide array of people on many styles of projects and events. This experience, I believe, has been of benefit to my therapeutic work on many levels.

Member organisations

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.

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

Fees

£70.00 per session

Additional information

Fees are £70 per therapeutic hour for individuals although student rates or concessions may occasionally be available.

Fees for couples are £85 per therapeutic hour.

When I work

Evening slots get booked very quickly and so there is always more flexibility with daytime sessions. 

Further information

My main practice is just off Wandsworth Common, minutes away from the mainline station and 319 bus-stops and around ten minutes' walk from Balham and Clapham South Underground stations.

Type of session

In person
Phone

Types of client

Adults
Older Adults
Couples

Key details

DBS check

In England and Wales, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS, formerly known as CRB) carry out criminal records checks for individuals working with vulnerable groups, such as children. To find out more, visit gov.uk , or contact this professional directly

Anna Purser
Anna Purser