Michaela Murphy

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PgDip, MBACP Relationship Counselling, Couples & Individuals
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

Hassocks BN6 & High Wycombe HP12
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

Welcome!

(I will begin by answering the questions I'm most frequently asked so you don’t have to scroll to find the answers - then do please read on for more detailed information)

  • Sessions are available face to face in Hassocks (Sussex), or via Zoom (online counselling) or by phone
  • I am currently able to take on new clients, couples and individuals
  • Face to face or Zoom sessions are held mid week during school hours (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays)
  • 60 min sessions £90 / 90 min sessions £135
  • half day (3hr) Intensives £300

For the past 13 years my specialism has been in Relationship Therapy, and I love to work with couples and individuals who want to gain greater clarity about their themselves and / or their relationship challenges. I work in a dynamic and collaborative way, helping you move through the anxiety of dealing with your relationship difficulties so you can reach your fullest potential.

By asking thought-provoking questions and encouraging an open sharing of thoughts and ideas I'll help you gain a deep, fundamental understanding of yourself and your relationships.

With these insights you can make informed choices about the future direction for your relationship(s) and create sustainable, positive change.

I have supported many couples who want to remain in their relationship and work towards making things better; I've also supported couples where the relationship has reached an end, and we work towards creating as gentle, respectful and mindful separation as possible.

The individuals I work with (1-2-1) come for a variety of reasons from wanting to talk about a current relationship without a partner present to reviewing the impact of past relationships or aspirations for future relationships. We can also focus on more generalised areas such as anxiety, feeling at a crossroads, loss of direction, loss of self-confidence, bereavement etc.

Sessions are scheduled on the same day, at the same time each week and together we will set the agenda for the sessions with regular reviews as we work.

Sometimes the hardest step can be making that first contact with a counsellor. Our first step would be to arrange an initial consultation (60 minutes) which will help us decide if we'd like to work together to enquire about arranging this please send me an email.

I’d love to hear from you.

(I aim to reply to all emails within 24hrs working hours or sooner, please check your junk folders if you’ve not heard from me - sometimes emails end up in there!)

Training, qualifications & experience

My professional training is in Relationship Therapy which is fairly unusual amongst counsellors who say they work with couples.  Whether you choose to work with me or another counsellor I would always recommend choosing someone whose main professional qualification is in Relationship Therapy.  Working with a couple together is a very different skillset / knowledge-base to working with individuals.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Post-graduate Diploma in Relationship Therapy - The Relate Institute, University of Hull
Certificate in Psychodynamic Couple Counselling - The Tavistock Centre for - Couple Relationships, London
Certificate in Psychotherapy and Counselling - School of Psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology, London
Bereavement Counselling Training - Camden City Islington and Westminster Bereavement Service

For the past 13 years I have specialised in Relationship Therapy and for the past 11 years I’ve run my own private practice, helping couples and individuals work through their difficulties and discover a clearer, happier path ahead.

I trained at the Relate Institute, earning a Post-graduate Diploma in Relationship Therapy. Utilising systemic and psychodynamic theory bases I worked for a number of very happy years for Relate Mid Thames & Bucks. I started as a trainee and become one of Relate’s Experienced Relationship Counsellors, before leaving to begin my private practice.

Prior to working with Relate I trained and worked as a Bereavement Counsellor for the Camden, City, Islington & Westminster Bereavement Service in London, supporting bereaved clients on a one-to-one basis.

The impact of bereavement continues to be an area of great interest to me.

I am a BACP Registered Counsellor and practice in accordance with their ethical guidelines.

CPD
As part of my commitment to ongoing continuous professional development I have attended the following seminars & trainings:

  • Somatic Experiencing course
  • School of Life - Esther Perel seminar
  • Mental Health and Couple Counselling
  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
  • Working with Affairs
  • Creative Ways of Helping Bereaved Children and Families
  • Working with Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse
  • Time-Limited Therapy (working within 6-12 sessions)
  • Working with clients from the LGBT Community
  • LGBT Inclusion training course for mainstream relationship service providers
  • Enabling Children to Speak About Feelings Through Sandplay
  • Domestic Violence & Abuse - Awareness, Assessment and Intervention
  • Using Narrative Therapy With Couples
  • Group Skills for Trainers

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

Other areas of counselling I deal with

Some common issues for couples

  • repetitive (cyclical) arguments
  • communication difficulties
  • loss of emotional / physical connection
  • impact of parenthood
  • separation and divorce
  • cross cultural relationships
  • affairs / betrayals
  • empty nest re-adjustment
  • pre-nuptial counselling
  • impact of bereavement on relationships
  • Difficulties with in-laws / step families

Some common issues for individuals

  • indecision about whether to stay or leave a relationship
  • history of unsatisfying relationships
  • 'crossroads' decision making
  • difficulties making / maintaining friendships
  • commitment anxieties
  • jealousy
  • communication difficulties with parents / siblings
  • cross cultural relationships
  • low self-esteem
  • impact of a bereavement on your relationships
  • problematic professional relationships
  • issues with trust

Photos & videos

Fees

£90.00 per session

Additional information

60 MINUTE INITIAL CONSULTATION - £90

A good client / counsellor 'fit' is really important, therefore I offer a 60 minute initial consultation which gives me an opportunity to hear more about you and whether I'm the best person to help; and gives you a chance to get a feel for me and how I work, we would then decide whether we'd like to work together.

Once we’ve chosen to go ahead, we commit to weekly sessions of either 60 or 90 minutes, whichever session length you prefer / schedules allow:

60 MINUTE SESSIONS - £90
60 minutes is a great session length for fitting in to a busy schedule, I’ve added an additional ten minutes to the industry standard ‘50 minute hour’ to help you get the most from our time.


90 MINUTE SESSIONS - £135
These longer sessions are a great length to really get into the flow of exploration. Perfect for couples as it offers more 'air time' for you both, or the opportunity for a deep dive in one-to-one sessions.

We can mix and match between 60 minute and 90 minute sessions as desired / schedules allow.

I offer a variety of weekday daytime appointments.

COUPLE INTENSIVES (3HR / HALF DAY BLOCK) - £300
Following on from the Initial Consultation there is the option to ‘fast-track’ the initial first three sessions (2 x individual sessions + the Consolidation Session) and book those all on the same day. Please visit my website and select 'sessions' -> 'Couple Intensives' for more information.

For more information please visit my website: www.michaelamurphy.co.uk

When I work

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Night

I offer a variety of weekday daytime appointments (within school hours) - all sessions are either face to face in my studio in Hassocks, or can be held online via Zoom.

Further information

Some testimonials from my clients (all shared anonymously and with permission):

“Michaela has been wonderful throughout our sessions. When I first spoke to her I was trying to make sense of some really challenging times. The way Michaela put our sessions together was so productive, focused and got to the root causes of everything we spoke about which helped me immensely to gain clarity and perspective. I always came away from every session with strategies to help which I was so valuable to me in everyday life. I cannot thank her enough for helping my mental wellness grow so much in such a short space of time. Thank you for everything!”

"Words simply can't express how absolutely grateful I am for all of my sessions with you. What an amazing gift of experiencing that process. Thank you."

~~

“Thank you for agreeing to assist my wife and I (especially me), during a very difficult time for my wife and I.

I spent every week over the past six months for an hour talking to you. Every minute of that hour was invaluable to me. Whether it was me discussing things with you or you calmly discussing things with me I can only say that the whole six months assisted me personally to get my mind together and my feet back on the ground. You also assisted/helped my wife to understand the problems I had caused to my family - for which I took full ownership and my remorse was total. In that regard we both appreciate fully how you were able to discuss with both of us or each of us individually in a manner which shows your professionalism is of the highest calibre.

My chats and discussions with you was time very well spent and I can honestly say that you were instrumental in putting me on the path to recovery for both myself personally and also my relationship with my wife.

I am aware that the path still has some way to go and you can rest assured Michaela that I will continue down that path and continue to be the best person I can be.

Thank you so much for helping me. You have been amazing."

I would recommend any person contemplating counselling to go ahead take the plunge make the call to a counsellor and like me I am sure you will receive the help to take you forward.””

~~

"Before my session I had always been a bit sceptical of counselling but Michaela soon made me realise that it was going to be a very worthwhile process. She opened my mind to things I would never have thought had a bearing on my relationship issues with my girlfriend. She helped me to articulate things better to my girlfriend. It is fair to say that counselling sessions with Michaela were the missing link between me and my girlfriend becoming an understanding and empathetic couple again.
I am a much happier person and my relationship is now the strongest it's been in over a year! So thankful for all your work with us."

~~

"My husband and I started sessions with Michaela because we had stopped communicating and basically didn't like each other very much, but wanted things to be better. Right from the start our sessions with Michaela made both of us feel like we could talk openly and without judgement - she made us really think about what was going on and how we wanted things to be in the future. It's never easy changing the habits of a lifetime, but we both felt that our sessions with Michaela put our relationship No.1 on the list, at least for an hour a week. Michaela has given us some tools going forward and we're a much happier family now."

~~

"My two daughters and I decided that we needed help to restore what had been a very close relationship but, for whatever reason, had become fraught and full of tensions. We had a variety of sessions with Michaela – all three of us together, in pairs, individually – and somehow we all gained an understanding that had been missing. Michaela always stressed that our individual sessions were confidential and yet, without ever divulging what had been said, she magically managed to bring about an understanding as though it had been spoken. Her skill and perception are second to none."

~~

"When we started seeing Michaela, I was worried that our family situation had broken down irretrievably. I wasn't sure anyone could help us, but from the outset, Michaela was supportive, positive and understanding. Within weeks our relationships have improved immeasurably and we're already a much happier family unit. I'm so glad we found Michaela; without her, I worry our sad situation would have just kept rumbling along."

~~

"Fantastic. Michaela has been life changing in the most positive way. Thank you."

~~

"When I first came with my husband I felt sure we would divorce, now I realise that was such an unfounded fear. Counselling has definitely improved our relationship as a couple as well as individuals."

~~

"Words simply can't express how absolutely grateful I am for all of my sessions with you. Thank you."

Hassocks, West Sussex, BN6

High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP12

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone

Types of client

Adults
Older Adults
Couples

Key details

Wheelchair user access
Wheelchair user access

Wheelchair-accessible premises should have step-free access for wheelchair users and individuals who are unable to climb stairs. If a Counsellor's premises aren't step-free, they may offer alternative services such as telephone/web-based appointments, home visits, or meeting clients in different location, so you can choose the option that suits you best.

You can contact the Counsellor to discuss the options available.

Under the Equality Act 2010 service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that individuals with disabilities can access their service. You can read more about reasonable adjustments to help you to access services on the CAB website.

My studio is on the ground floor but is raised up on a concrete platform. For enquirers with concerns regarding access please let me know and I can provide you with a walk-through video and doorway measurements to help you assess accessibility.

Online platforms

Zoom

Social

Michaela Murphy
Michaela Murphy