Sharon Rother

Who am I?
I qualified as a counsellor in 1994 and have worked in private practice continuously for the past 26 years. I am an accredited member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists and a member of the United Kingdom Register of Counsellors.

How can I help?
Sometimes there are specific issues that we find we cannot grapple with alone; counselling can help us come to terms with these difficult life events. Often there is a feeling that although life is continuing around us we cannot find our own way through the mire or there is a sense of just not functioning as well as we could. Counselling can help to make sense of this confusion and find a positive path back to a more stable and happier frame of mind. I am experienced in working with clients with general issues including relationship problems, unresolved bereavement issues, anxiety, depression and stress. However, I do also specialise in working with people suffering with eating disorders or obesity

My Approach
I was trained as a psycho-dynamic counsellor but would now describe myself as integrative, drawing on many elements including Cognitive Behavioural and Person Centred theories. My training has also included short term focused work and couples therapy. In 1992 I completed an intense course in the varied aspects of eating disorders culminating in an MA. My final paper, which was published, reported on a research project with recovered anorexics and bulimics and what services they would have liked when they were ill. I work with individuals and couples.

What to expect from your sessions
I always suggest an initial session where you can experience how I work and can explain why you have decided to seek counselling. After three or four sessions I will hope to have made sense of what your issues are and where the work lies which I will share with you. I always review with clients every so often so that we can both get an understanding of what has been achieved and what work may still need to be achieved. 


Other areas of my work
From 2002 until 2008 I worked in the Eating Disorders and Obesity Unit of the University of Hertfordshire as a lecturer and researcher on all aspects of disordered eating. I have been quoted extensively in the media on the problems concerning disordered eating.

I am the co-author of a book which seeks to explain the emotional aspects of over-eating. The book also explains how to create therapeutic groups for women who are severely overweight to help with weight loss(Therapeutic Groups for Obese Women) and have jointly edited a book on responses to disordered eating (Psychological Responses to Eating Disorders and Obesity) both published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.