Nicola Dunkley

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Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

Aberystwyth, SY23
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I am a BACP accredited counsellor and NCS accredited supervisor, working with adults and young people both in private practice and in a Welsh-speaking secondary school. My initial training nearly 20 years ago was as a co-counsellor and I then completed a Diploma in Counselling in 2007 at Coleg Sir Gâr, a BACP accredited training in a humanistic, person-centred, integrative approach.  I also train new volunteers for a leading bereavement support charity, as well as supervise those volunteers.

We all of us have problems and difficulties in life. The way these affect us can be to do with how we see ourselves in relation to those problems, the meaning we take from it. Talking to a non-judgmental person in a safe, confidential space outside of everyday life can be an effective way to see things more clearly, gain a different perspective and work out what options you have. As a counsellor, I try not to give advice, but rather to help you find your own solutions. I am happy to listen to you talk about anything at all that may be troubling you. My expertise is not in knowing the answer to your problem, but in listening and being interested, trying to understand what is going on for you.... and this may enable you to understand your situation more clearly, understand the patterns of behaviour or thinking you may be using and see what choices are open to you.

You may talk about anything you wish to. Sometimes people want to talk through a decision they have to make. Sometimes they are worried about their mood, feeling unhappy, angry, low, depressed, anxious, stressed, frightened, stuck, de-motivated, suicidal, lost, bereft, disgusted or ashamed: wanting a way out of these difficult emotions. There may have been a great loss or change that feels hard to cope with. There may be aspects of yourself that you do not understand, wish to change or with which you wish to be at peace.

The list below of 'areas of counselling I deal with' is not meant to indicate expertise in all of these areas, but rather what people have most often chosen to talk about with me.

Training, qualifications & experience

  • Diploma in Counselling, Coleg Sir Gâr, EdExel, (BACP accredited training) 2007
  • Advanced Diploma in Counselling Supervision, KRCS, (NCS accredited) 2016
  • 3 day StopSO - Working with sex offenders ( who want to stop offending)
  • 5 day Group Therapy, Coleg Sir Gâr, 2016
  • 8 day Mindful Practitioner, Lorraine Sherman 2014-16
  • 5 day residential training in Mindful Self Compassion, Bangor University, 2015
  • 7 day Practitioner Certificate in Sand Play Therapy Skills, PTUK, 2013
  • 5 day Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Bangor University 2011
  • ASIST Applied Suicide Intervention Skills, 2008

Cruse Bereavement Care, 60 hour volunteer training, 2005 and have volunteered with Cruse ever since as counsellor and supervisor. I am also a paid trainer with Cruse.
Seren: 2 day training and 2 years working as a volunteer counsellor with Adults who were sexually abused as children. Currently supervising counsellors who work with this client group through New Pathways.

CPD, usually 1-2 day courses on a variety of subjects such as Child Protection, Working at Relational Depth, Single Session Therapy, Bereavement by
Suicide, Working with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Neuroscience, LGBTQ awareness, Self Harm, Play Therapy Skills, Ethics, Emotional Freedom Technique, Shame,  Trauma, Somatic Experiencing, Working Creatively.

Member organisations

Registered / Accredited

Registered / Accredited

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
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

I consider myself to be a 'general' counsellor, able to work with people bringing a huge range of problems and life histories.

Nevertheless, I have spent most of my career working with young people aged 10 - 25; also working with the bereaved of all ages, which means I can definitely work with loss of all kinds, death and dying.

I have trained with StopSO, which gives me the skills to work with those at risk of sex offending, particularly where the offending is looking at illegal images online.  I am only interested in working with people who want to stop their offending behaviours.  I have specialist supervision for this work.

Fees

£50.00 per session

Concessions offered for

  • Low income

Health Insurance/EAP

  • BUPA

Additional information

Counselling: I charge £50 per session (50-60 minutes)
Concessions are available.

StopSO clients £55 per session (apologies for extra cost, but I have to pay for specialist supervision).

Supervision of Counsellors: £55 per hour

When I work

I work Mondays and Wednesdays 'in the room' and Tuesdays and Fridays online.

Further information

I have a face to face 'in the room' practice.  I work online using Zoom (usually).  I can work by phone and I also offer 'walk and talk'.

Aberystwyth, SY23

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone

Types of client

Children
Young people
Adults
Older Adults
Groups
Employee Assistance Programme

Key details

I offer online and telephone counselling. There is one step up into the property where I work. I am on the ground floor. The toilet is upstairs.

Additional languages

Welsh, French

Supervision

In person
Online
Phone

I completed an Advanced Diploma in Counselling Supervision, trained by Kathy Raffles Counselling Services (NCS accredited) in 2016.

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