Martyn Blacklock

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Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

Penrith, Cumbria, CA10 3NB
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I am a trained Person-centred counsellor, working with you and recognising your unique needs and wants with the aim of improving your emotional well being.

Personal counselling can be offered to anyone experiencing difficultly in dealing with their emotions or those close to them. See http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/person-centred-therapy.html for more details of Person-Centred Therapy.

The following is a list (not exhaustive) of issues I can help with:

  • alcohol and drug addiction
  • behavioural problems
  • relationship issues
  • lack of confidence/self-esteem
  • problems at work
  • financial pressures
  • bereavement
  • victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse
  • sexual abuse
  • sexuality issues.

Counselling can take place indoors or can be taken outdoors (with mutual agreement on the best way of doing so).

I also work with employers wishing to provide support to employees experiencing difficulty or working on personal development to function better at work.

I work by appointment only and therefore it is best to contact me initially via email (or through this website) so I can send you the information needed to book an initial session. 

Training, qualifications & experience

I have experience of working with men and women, from varying social and economic backgrounds, differing sexual orientations and with problems such as (but not limited to); alcohol and drug addiction, behavioural problems, relationship issues, lack of confidence/self-esteem, problems at work, financial pressures, bereavement, victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, sexuality issues.

Another aspect of my counselling is to take it outside of the typical environment of an indoor space to the outdoors, whether it be a simple walk in a park or climbing a beautiful fell in the Lake District. This is an innovative way of providing counselling and is very different to adventure therapy or outdoor activities that are therapeutic, I will aim to provide the same (or perhaps enhanced) experience by taking our work outdoors. I feel this supports my vision of making counselling more accessible to those who wouldn't normally engage with it but may be inclined to given the appeal of being outdoors. I would discuss this with you if you were interested to see how we could take advantage the outdoor environment to enhance the work we would undertake.

In addition to working with people in my private counselling practice I have also started to develop workplace counselling, working with businesses to provide support to employees. This is evolving into personal development work for those considering themselves not regular candidates for counselling, particularly with managers who's understanding of their own process can have positive effects on the teams they manage. I am particularly excited about this work as it combines my 10+ years' experience working in a large company as a manager where I saw how my experience of counselling significantly improved my management capabilities.

I really look forward to hearing from you.

I have the following relevant qualifications and training:

  • Postgraduate diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy. University of Cumbria.
  • BSc Natural Sciences (Psychology and Mathematics). University of Durham.

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

Photos & videos

Fees

£60.00 per session

Additional information

£60 per session lasting 1 hour.

When I work

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Night

My days off are Monday and Tuesday.

Further information

After spending many years receiving personal counselling to deal with the death of my mother and relationship issues I became interested in how I could share this experience with others. I spoke to my counsellor about this and decided I would do this once I'd paid off my mortgage, built a solid foundation in life (whatever I thought that meant I have since forgotten), waited for the 'right time'. Following my counselling I felt lifted and engaged in life, put aside many problems and forged ahead, rising through the various ranks in my banking job and got where I thought I wanted to be. In the meantime, I shut myself off from anything that got in the way of this 'success' and became detached in some way. But I was doing well by general standards of those around me so all was good.

External situations meant I was now on shaky ground regarding my career and my relationships were also suffering, I returned to the idea of counselling but I couldn't see how I could give up all I had to do this. I decided to do both and enrolled on my postgraduate diploma course alongside a full time job and various other personal commitments. I also discovered yoga at the same time and had no idea how the two would become so interlinked.

My training to be a counsellor (for me) was basically made up of the basic philosophy that people are good and bad things happen which close our hearts and mean we behave in ways to protect ourselves from hurt. This often results in hurting others along the way and ending up in a mess of second-guessing and general dysfunction invariably 'remedied' through antidepressants, alcohol/drug/food/sexual/behavioural addictions or a vast array of diagnoses as long as can be imagined. I learned how it is possible to simply just listen, REALLY listen, putting aside my own experience (but also using this for the benefit of listening), being warm, caring and finding a way to connect with another person to understand their world and show them this; I have also seen how the creation of this type of relationship can be amazingly healing for others and me.

It came through working incredibly hard on my own challenges, by doing so I would hopefully be able to do this work, to really listen. I started to look at my life and see where I had created a world that wasn't what I really wanted, mostly due to being scared of experiencing anything other than what felt good and safe. I discovered how to accept hurt, difficulty, not being able to please others, look at my faults and learn to love them among many other facets of who I am; I continue to do this by offering myself the same conditions I offer to those I provide support to in my counselling work. Following this I was able to start to see what I really wanted, more importantly what I didn't and felt able to make these decisions. Those things I had strived for suddenly started to seem less important.

Yoga was something I felt would help me become a better version of myself physically. This has been the case but it has been the perfect accompaniment to me starting to look inside myself for the best answers to my personal challenges and has helped in find peace of mind and heart. I currently look forward to deepening this experience in India later this year, I will return and share this experience with others when I hope to offer sessions where I can work with people on their interpretation of yoga and how this can benefit them. Yoga has become far more than a physical endeavour for me, it has helped me appreciate the varying motivations for others when they engage in improving the condition of their body. I am delighted to offer classes and 1:1 sessions where people can explore their best selves and their well-being as they condition their bodies.

This brings me to the current time where I have taken the risk to do this work in its own right. I am so passionate about how I can work with others to improve their well-being through conditioning of their body and connection with themselves and others, this is coupled with my determination and ability to work hard to the best job I can as I support them. I have a vision whereby counselling isn't 'taboo', a secret process that only 'messed up' people need. I hope for it to be seen as an opportunity for people to connect with themselves naturally, through the supportive hand of another, when feeling unable to work through their emotional dysfunction, just as they would visit a doctor to offer support with physical dysfunction. I believe we all deserve that experience of being really listened to, a sharing of our true selves with someone who can receive this so we can feel good about who we really are, for perhaps the first time ever in some instances. For me this is the start point from where the required changes can occur as we know what we really want for ourselves; or technically put, to operate from our internal locus of evaluation (https://www.ukessays.com/essays/psychology/person-centred-theory-and-its-application-in-practice-psychology-essay.php). I am under no illusion about how hard this process is and it requires a huge amount of trust, I offer myself for this and would be honoured to work with anyone hoping to do this work.

Woolbarn, Shap, Penrith, Cumbria, CA10 3NB

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone

Types of client

Young people
Adults
Older Adults
Organisations
Employee Assistance Programme

Social

Martyn Blacklock
Martyn Blacklock