Isabel Bristowe
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
When we have problems in our life, or life itself seems problematic, it can help to talk to a caring professional. I offer the opportunity to engage in a non-judgemental and confidential exploration of your world. I am a fully qualified and accredited BACP counsellor and a certified Emotionally Focused couples therapist and supervisor. I work with individuals and couples, adults and older teenagers and offer both short term and long term support.
I believe the relationship my client and I build is the most important element in the healing process. When this working relationship is collaborative, trusting and feels safe it encourages understanding of what can be changed in your life and how to accept and better manage what cannot be changed.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am a qualified and accredited counsellor in an integrative-relational approach. This approach draws on a range of theories which means I can tailor our collaborative work to best fit your individual concerns within a safe and compassionate environment.
I am also a certified Emotionally Focused therapist and supervisor (visit www.iceeft.com for more information) to help support couples facing challenges in their relationship. This approach is collaborative in helping you to identify the repeated patterns of conflict that create distance between you. I work with you both to develop a deeper understanding of the difficult emotions that you are both experiencing. These emotions that include fear, loneliness and hurt drive these negative patterns. Together we can look at transforming the distress and distance between you to a rediscovery of the love that brought you together and a strengthening of this bond.
If the thought of couple's therapy does not feel right at this point you may prefer to try a Hold Me Tight® (HMT) relationship enhancement workshop for couples. I co-run these two day intensive courses regularly. If you are interested please visit my website for more information.
I have worked with CRUSE Bereavement Care and AMS Bereavement Support, counselling both adults and children through their difficult time of grief and loss. I have also gained insight into excluded and struggling teenagers through my work with Surrey Care Trust. This work also included working with older individuals as a mentor to help with their personal goals. I currently volunteer with Marriage Care in addition to my private practice.
My counselling experience of supporting clients has included a wide range of difficulties. These include abuse, anxiety problems, bereavement, cancer, childhood abuse or neglect, depression, low self-esteem, MS, pregnancy and birth, rape, relationship issues, sex problems, sexual and gender identity issues, stress, terminal illness and work related stress.
BA (Hons) Integrative-Relational Counselling
BSc (Hons) Psychology
Member organisations
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 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
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.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
Additional information
As I believe in the importance of the therapeutic relationship, I offer a free 20-30 minute phone consultation. This provides you the opportunity to ask any questions and to see if we would feel comfortable working together.
Thereafter, if we both decide to work together, I would normally see you weekly over an agreed period. A normal session is for 50 minutes for both individuals and couples. I also offer 75 minutes to couples who want sessions of longer duration. Sometimes couples are interested in an intensive private and personalised therapy. This is a bespoke package, flexibly structured for up to four hours a day for two or three days.
Fees are payable at the beginning of each session:
Please call me to discuss fee rates. I have a sliding scale of fees, subject to a minimum and a maximum, which I can explain when we are in contact. Fees for individual, couples and intensives are priced differently and depend on session duration.
I also offer a couple of low cost places for those on low income.
I offer short and long term work.
When I work
Weekdays and evenings.
Further information
I am an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and I am bound by its Ethical Framework. My work is supervised by a senior practitioner.
