Kim Cooper MBACP (Accred) - Person Centred Counselling

I have been working in a person centred way since 2004 and the people I have worked with have come for counselling for a variety of reasons, and yet I have found the same thing to be helpful whatever my client brings - offering a relationship that does not judge or direct. I believe emotional and psychological healing can occur when a relationship has these qualities.

These qualities were described in the 1950s by Dr Carl Rogers who believed (as I do) that empathy, unconditional positive regard (UPR) and congruence are pivotal to therapeutic work. He called his work 'Client Centred Therapy', and later 'Person Centred Therapy', these two terms meaning the same. The relational qualities of empathy, UPR and congruence came to be known as the core conditions and these qualities inform the way I live and work.

I believe Person Centred Counselling can act as an antidote to the largely judgemental and directive society in which we live. I do not diagnose, treat or try to cure you; I do not believe it is helpful for me to try to 'fix' you, my hope is that during our work together you feel understood and valued and that as a result you begin to understand and value yourself.

The clients I work with are often aware of what other people think and feel about them and have been on the receiving end of much well meaning advice. If you decide to go ahead and work with me I will not decide what you should talk about, and I will not impose my values and beliefs on you. I will do my best to help you to make sense of things by offering you a relationship that encourages you to spend time figuring out what you think and feel about things.

I believe that when you begin to refer to, and trust, your own experience to guide your life, you develop a secure base within you that remains relatively stable when the world around you changes; this secure base is crucial to self-esteem and emotional well being.

It is important to me that you have the opportunity to ask me any questions you may have before we begin to work together. I offer an initial meeting, free of charge, where you can ask me any questions you might have. This also gives us the opportunity get a sense of whether we want to work together. You don't have to make your mind up straight away - you're free to take time after the meeting to think about things before you make a decision. If you decide that my approach is not quite what you're looking for, then I'll be happy to refer you to another therapist who might suit you better.

If you prefer we can conduct an initial meeting via the phone, email or skype.

I will not expect you to commit to a certain number of sessions, you can decide on a weekly basis if you would like to continue.

I will offer you a confidential relationship. The only person I talk to about my work is my supervisor; I am required to meet for supervision monthly with another counsellor to discuss my work and to be supported with my own emotional wellbeing; this work is confidential and my supervisor is a member of BACP.

There are some situations where I am legally obliged to disclose information - I will talk to you about this in more detail if we meet

Children and young people.