CLAUDINE MEISSNER MBACP Face to Face and Skype
About me
My focus is on helping individuals reach their full potential, and helping couples and families enhance their communication and intimacy. I work with Anxiety, Loss, Low Self-Esteem and Fear of Abandonment.
I bring warmth and insight, varied life experience and extensive training into my work with clients. I provide you with opportunities to talk about any issues you may currently be struggling with. I also offer second-generation therapy. This is an opportunity for people who are the children of immigrants, or survivors of trauma, to look at how their lives have been affected by the experience of the previous generation. Having grown up in a diverse cultural environment and being the daughter of refugees has contributed to my understanding of difference and identity.
My training includes Gestalt and Formative Psychology, which emphasise present self - awareness and the possibilities of change. I specialise in areas such as relationship issues, loss and mourning, low self-esteem, childhood abuse both physical and emotional, affairs and betrayals, creative blocks, fear of abandonment and trauma. But have worked on the full range of issues that clients wish to tackle. I have a relaxed style that helps to create an easy rapport, as well as compassion and consideration.
Recently, I was part of a small team supporting foster carers of teenagers in a North London borough. Before training I worked for many years as a magazine and book designer. I am a mother of two adult daughters.
Therapy & counselling
Do you feel as if you are not living an authentic or full life in your job, relationships or marriage? Do you feel you have lost yourself somehow or that you regularly put yourself last? Are you inspired to make some changes, empower and understand yourself and how your life works by building greater self-worth and self-esteem.
Having a supportive relationship with a therapist who really listens and feeds back to you, with no personal agenda, can be a new and very positive experience, which can lead to constructive change.
Training, qualifications & experience
I began my personal and professional development in psychotherapy in the late 1970s.
I graduated from the Spectrum training programme which is a United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) member organisation. I abide by their code of ethics & practice. (www.spectrumtherapy.co.uk)
Oxford Cambridge & RSA Certificate in Counselling Skills
Childhood Sexual Abuse: Occurrence and Prevention
Reparenting Intensive Course
Anger Management
Spectrum Training Certificate in Counselling and Psychotherapy
Gestalt, Theory and Practice
Spectrum Humanistic Psychotherapy continuation programme
Working with Couples training (Spectrum)
Accredited Cruse Bereavement Counsellor (8 years)
Member organisations
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP is one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapists registered with the Association fall into a number of different membership categories such as Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP and Registered Member MBACP (Accred), each standing for different levels of training and experience. MBACP (Accred) and MBACP (Snr Accred) members have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by the Association.
Registered members can be found on the BACP Register, which was the first register to achieve Accredited Voluntary Register status issued by the Professional Standards Authority. Individual Members will have completed an appropriate counselling and/or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but will not appear on the BACP Register until they've progressed to Registered Member MBACP status.
All members are bound by a Code of Ethics & Practice and a Complaints Procedure. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
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.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I have special interests and experience in counselling adult survivors of childhood sexual, physical and emotional abuse and those bereaved by suicide. Whatever the form, the experience of childhood abuse is a trauma which has impact on people throughout their lives. We embody our life experiences: therefore such trauma can damage a person’s ability to enter fully into trusting relationships.
Abuse counselling offers survivors the chance to talk face-to-face in a safe and non-judgemental environment and to practice forming a relationship of trust. Humanistic therapists help survivors come to terms with emotional issue and to overcome shame, then to realise their ability to take control of their lives. Strong emphasis is placed on personal empowerment. This helps one to reconnect to bodily sensations, live more authentically, and to build resilience and trust. Over the years I have learned that trauma is not a life sentence; it is something that we can work on, recover from and be happy.
Therapies offered
Fees
£45 for each 50 – minute session for individuals; £55 for each 60 – minute session for couples.
I offer some lower cost places for students and anyone on a low wage.
Further information
Client feedback:
"Through Claudine’s compassionate and non-judgmental approach, I was able to explore painful past issues that I had avoided for years, that were affecting my relationships and enjoyment of life. I found her to be an empathic counsellor who brought warmth and honesty to our sessions, which really helped me to express my feelings, my fears and my hopes. I could grow and develop myself at a pace that felt comfortable and safe. I never felt that I had to prove anything in our sessions or demonstrate an outcome. Whatever I brought on the day was always valued and respected. Looking back, I see how far I’ve come since I began to work with Claudine and now I can continue my journey with courage". LB.
