Cate Potter BA, UKCP, Registered Mental Health Nurse.

Oxford
OX1
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07790020901
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Profile

I work in a non-judgemental, and sensitive way offering a safe and calm space to explore what concerns you or first comes to mind. I work within the ethical framework of the UKCP respecting confidentiality at all times and favour a transparent and collaborative way of relating.

Although my core training is in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy I adopt a flexible approach depending on individual needs; recognising that for some people working in the transference can feel too frightening and persecuting until adequate trust is built up.

Some people take to a more classical psychoanalytic approach immediately whereas others seem to flourish with a mixture of psychodynamic, relational and person centred approaches particularly in shorter term work for specific life events such as bereavement or assault. Sometimes what is going on in the here and now after such a trauma is paramount in the person's mind and needs to be contained before deeper, unconscious thought processes and feelings can be accessed.

I trained as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist after a long career as a Mental Health Nurse. Although the psychiatric system can at times provide a safe haven I found that the limited and under resourced services I was working in afforded little time to relate to people as individuals with specific and unique backgrounds.

I began to notice how some people became depersonalised by the clinical and medical treatment of their diagnosis, hence feeling dehumanised and alienated within a system set out to help.

I therefore moved into work within therapeutic communities with a premise that emotional and mental distress as well as self destructiveness can be talked and thought about with the belief that it is survivable and able to be lived with in a less harmful and therefore more productive and life enabling way.

Much of my work with individual patients takes on this view point and at the very least I would hope to be able to help someone find ways of living with what disturbs and inhibits them the most in order to give room for more creativity and autonomy within their lives.

I see people for between six months and five years (occasionally longer) and from between one and three sessions per week.

The initial consultation will take the form of an assessment of up to three meetings where I will ask more questions than in a usual session. I will need to get a sense of what has brought you to therapy at this time, a brief personal history including social, medical, current risk factors and support network.

As part of the consultation process it will be important to discuss what is possible for you and what I would recommend as being helpful. Sometimes this is hard to deduce in the first few sessions and the therapy takes on an open ended arrangement that is reviewed on a six monthly basis.

Alternatively you may decide that it would suit you better to meet for several sessions on a trial basis to get a sense of me and whether or not you would like to continue.

Training, Qualifications & Experience

  • BA Social Policy and Sociology, Nottingham.
  • Dip He Mental Health Nursing
  • Certificate in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (six year training)
  • Short Courses in CBT, addiction and drug use, HIV, dissociative disorders and Dissociative Identity Disorder, working with sexual abuse and self harm.
  • Yoga
  • Meditation practice

I am a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist (UKCP) trained at the Arbours Association in North London. I started my training whilst living as a 'Resident Therapist' at the Arbours Crisis Centre, a psychotherapeutic community for people with long term mental health and emotional difficulties.

I have been a registered mental health nurse for eighteen years and have increasingly worked with those diagnosed with personality problems and those seen as having complex needs including drug addiction.

I have also worked in acute and community settings within the NHS as well as within independent NHS provider services including drug rehabilitation, therapeutic communities including residential, secure forensic services and outpatient psychotherapy.

Currently, as well as offering individual psychotherapy I am part time Case and Referrals Manager at a small specialist clinic in North London specifically for those living with dissociation and DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). This service is primarily for people who have suffered severe trauma and abuse during early childhood and often continuing into adulthood.

Areas of counselling I deal with

Other areas of counselling I deal with

Trauma and Dissociation

Therapies Offered

Fees

My standard fee is £40ph with some concessionary places available. I am particularly willing to negotiate a lower fee if you decide to take on more than one session per week.

Further Information

Areas of Competence

Personality problems and difficulty in relating to self and others 
Depression including Bipolar Disorder
Suicidal and self destructive feelings
Low self worth and feelings of hopelessness
Long term unemployment and underachievement
Dissociation and depersonalisation
Loss and Trauma
Addictions and addictive behaviour patterns
Ongoing abuse and destructive behaviour
Fear, anxiety and feelings of guilt and shame
Anger and loneliness

I practice in two consulting room locations within OX1 and OX4.

I am available on:
 
Mondays between 9.30am and 9.30pm
Tuesdays between 9.30am and 3.30pm
Wednesdays after 8.30pm
Fridays between 9.30 and 6.30pm

  • Online, email or telephone counselling available

Member Organisation(s)

Registered / Accredited Counsellor or Psychotherapist

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