Mic Austen

Offering online and face-to-face consultations ......

A warm welcome: I am an accredited EMDR Practionner and Trauma-informed, UKCP registered Psychotherapist and Counsellor with over 20 years experience. I am particularly experienced with working onlnine, using zoom or platforms specifically designed for psychotherapy and EMDR.  I work with individuals for long-term and short-term work and integrate many different theories to suit you and your needs.  I will often use EMDR on recent trauma and early life traumatic events.  My main focus is to ensure that you get the help and support you need in the most effective and timely way so that you can feel better quickly and live the life you deserve.

You may be feeling any of the following symptoms:

• Anxiety - general anxiety disorder and more specific anxiety issues
• Depression - including post-natal depression
• Irritability
• Loss of interest
• Numbing
• Having trouble concentrating
• Insomnia or night terrors
• Emotionally overwhelmed
• Loss of send of the future or hopelessness
• Shame and worthlessness
• Flashbacks
• Hypervigilance and mistrust
• Panic attacks
• Chronic pain or headaches
• Substance abuse or eating disordered
• Feel unreal or out of body
• Self-destructive behaviour
• Loss of sense of who you are

If any of these apply to you, you may be suffering from some form of trauma - whether that is a recent event or the result of childhood events.  Or maybe you just don't know why you  feel like this but would like to explore it.

These feelings are often the result of:

• Abuse – emotional, psychological, physical, sexual
• Neglect and childhood abuse
• Family issues
• Bereavement
• Gender and sexuality
• Childhood issues – divorce, abuse, neglect, etc

About Me:

I have been working as a Counsellor/Psychotherapist for over 20 years.   I began my therapy training as a way to make sense of my own life and now I work to help you to make sense of yours. It is amazing to see how people can turn around pain and unhappiness in their lives and in a relatively short time feel so much better. Having experienced the power of therapy and EMDR, it is important to me that I provide a caring, warm, non-judgmental space for you to feel better about yourself, your life and your relationships.

What is Counselling/Psychotherapy?

Although I use the terms Counselling and Psychotherapy interchangeably, they are a little different. Counselling tends to be short-term (up to 3 months) and Psychotherapy tends to be more long-term and looks deeper and longer into your life, sometimes looking at your past and childhood issues to understand your present. The training in the two is also different: counselling training is shorter and psychotherapy is much longer and requires you to be in your own therapy.

Counselling and Psychotherapy both work by listening - the 'talking cure', as it is known. By having someone to empathically listen, understand, delve, make sense and offer insights into what is troubling us, we begin to transform and change, feeling happier, more content and able to make decisions and choices that work for us. We begin to participate more fully in our own life rather than be a spectator to it.

My aim with Counselling and Psychotherapy is to help you explore what is not working in your life and assist you in understanding events, experiences, thoughts and feelings so that you can make the changes you want in order to feel better and live your life to the full.

EMDR:

The EM in EMDR stands for Eye Movement which is how this form of therapy was discovered, however, it is now acknowledged that any form of 'bilateral stimulation', such as tapping, sounds, etc, work just as well,  making it easy to use online.  The recent findings in neurobiology show that memories are stored differently in the brain depending on whether they have been processed - usually 'good' memories are processed and do not cause us any distress.  However, 'bad' memories or events, whether it is recent or in the past that cause us distress, is often not processed and these memories can cause depression, anxiety; the list of symptoms I've listed above.  These feelings can be triggered in the present because the event has not been processed/metabolised by the brain.  EMDR offers a direct way to work with those issues/memories by helping the brain to process the events and associated feelings, leaving one feeling happier, more engaged and fulfilled.  You can read more about this:

What do you do now?

I do encourage you to pick up the phone for an informal chat although I know how difficult this can be. If you find this too difficult, please feel free to email. I am happy to talk about any aspect of therapy/counselling so that you get the answers you need for the problems you are experiencing. (Tel: 07445-672295). Talking to me is the best way to know whether you would like to work with me and I am more than happy to answer any of your questions - about my training, how I work and how counselling/therapy can help you.

I know that when you feel depressed, anxious, angry, sad, fearful, confused, undervalued, unloved or unable to cope , picking up the phone can be a daunting task. This is quite normal and very usual and I hope that you will find me sensitive enough to your feelings to help you make sense of what is going on for you.

After the initial brief chat, I usually suggest that we have one session so that you can see how I work.  In this initial session, I will do an assessment and together we will decide whether I can help you and whether you want to work with me.   It is really important that you get the help that you want and deserve from someone that you trust and get on with.  If we both feel that I can help, I usually suggest that we contract for 6 sessions.  At that time, we re-assess where we are and if you wish to continue.  

You could also look at my websites for more information...

www.macounselling.co.uk

www.essexpsychotherapy.co.uk

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/counselling/cm14/739129?sid=5e7363e4c4788&ref=2&tr=ResultsName

I cover Brentwood, Shenfield, Hutton, Upminster, Billericay in Essex and Maida Vale, Paddington and Little Venice in Central London.

Specialising in anxiety, depression, relationship issues, phobias, trauma of neglect and childhood abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders.

• Trauma - neglect and childhood abuse
• Couples - both heterosexual and same sex couples
• General dissatisfaction with life, feeling stuck
• Relationship issues; inc. repeating the same patterns
• Self-esteem issues
• Work issues
• Loss and bereavement
• Sex and sexuality/gender issues
• Gay, Lesbian Bi-sexual individuals and couples
• Life choices and indecision
• Gay Affirmative Psychotherapy

£85-120 per hour  Further concessions are available for low-income individuals.  Please ask.

I work in Brentwood, Essex, close to Shenfield, Chelmsford, Billericay, Upminster, Hornchurch.  I am 2 minutes walk from Brentwood station and there is free parking opposite my practice. 
I also work in the Paddington/MaidaVale/Little Venice area of West London, between Paddington and Warwick Avenue tube stations.

For more information, please visit my website: www.macounselling.co.uk or
www.essexpsychotherapy.co.uk/

Please telephone me for any further information: 07445-672295