Samantha Hillyer

Hello! Thank you for visiting my profile.

I combine my training and professional experience with compassion, and life experience, to provide psychotherapy and counselling in a welcoming, confidential and non-judgemental environment.

I am qualified to work in two different countries (the UK and Canada).  I have been seeing clients for 16 years and believe strongly that your sessions should be based around Psychoeducation i.e. helping you to understand why you are feeling and behaving the way that you do.  Together, we then can work out a way forward.  This helps you to be able to be your own therapist, and to be empowered about what course of action to take, based upon what your mind and body is doing. 

What can Counselling and Psychotherapy Do For You?

You may seek counselling or psychotherapy for a number of reasons. You may not know what brings you here, just that there is something not right, or missing.

Or there may be so many thoughts and feelings inside you that you don't know what to feel or think anymore.

I can work with you on an open ended basis or for an agreed time period, with the aim of enabling you to enhance your life and to live it more fully.

In general people come to see me because they have experienced, or are experiencing one of the following:

Attachment Issues

Domestic Violence

Family Issues

Sexual Abuse

Spiritual Crisis

Childlessness

Anxiety

Bullying

Addictions (Substances/Gambling/Shopping/Psychic Addiction)

Bereavement

Feeling lonely

Relationship issues

Loss of identity or status

Affairs or Betrayals

Children leaving home

Depression

What is happening with you may not be on this list. Please understand - if it bothers you then it's important - and you can bring it to psychotherapy.

What is different about counselling with me?

YOU!!

Although I currently only work with individuals and couples aged 18 and over, I have counselled people aged 5 to 86, spanning a wide range of issues and situations. I provide Couples Counselling to explore a wide range of relationship issues, as well as working individually with people.

However, experience has taught me that no two people are alike so I work differently with everyone. In this way your sessions are always tailored to you and what you bring.

Everybody is different and people express themselves in different ways. Some people want to talk. Others find it difficult to talk about what is bothering them straight away and need to draw, use clay or photographs of their life to open up what is happening with them.  I encourage clients to be aware of what their bodies are telling them, and to work with their bodies to help change the way they feel.

However, it is important that you express yourself in the way you want to, so I take time to find out how we can best work together, and how you are most comfortable expressing yourself.

Whatever you bring, and however we choose to work together; you will be received with warmth, without judgement and with honesty.

About Me

It is important that you feel comfortable with any therapist you work with, so thanks for taking the time to read a bit more about me.

Many years ago, events in my life brought about feelings and thoughts which seemed almost impossible to manage. I sought, and found a really good therapist. This changed my life and, eventually, helped me to decide to follow the path of helping others today. But I know how hard it can be to contact someone like me. To feel that there is something really wrong with you because you need to do this; to worry that the therapist may judge you, may not understand you or think that you are silly for feeling the way you do.

It's OK.. I've been there.

I have a special interest in the areas of attachment i.e. - how we think, feel and act with others in relationship; developmental trauma (trauma that happens when you are a child).  This includes things like a parent dying, parents splitting up, or struggling with their own mental health; neglect or abuse.  In essence, developmental trauma is when a parent is either frightened because of something that is happening to them, or frightening to us.  As children, we cannot understand this, and adapt in ways that can cause difficulties for us later in life.  Therefore, I work with the little child inside you who may be crying out for somebody to notice;

I also have a special interest in grief, loss and change. But grief is not just about death. Grief can occur with the end of a relationship; a loss or change of job or home; children leaving home; or the arrival of a baby.

Or you may be a couple whose relationship is struggling. It may be that even though you talk every day about everyday things; who's going to do the dishes etc, you never really talk anymore. You can't remember the last time you went out together like you used to and you feel so alone. Or it may be that one of you has has an affair or is seriously tempted to and the feelings around this are terrible.

All of these, and many other life events can cause a change of identity and status that can bring feelings that are difficult to manage.

In our society, there is a pressure to push our feelings aside - to "get on with it". Yet, ultimately these feelings will surface elsewhere. I believe strongly that mind, body and spirit are linked - we may become ill because of the 'dis-ease' which we feel at the things that have happened to us.  We are often conditioned from an early age to neglect what our bodies are telling us.

It doesn't have to be this way.

I have worked supporting people in various agencies for several years; from the Probation Service to Social Services, and earlier on in my career worked as a Counsellor for Age Concern, Connexions and Relate.

If you have any questions - any at all (it doesn't matter how trivial or silly they seem to you), email me or phone me, and we can talk with no obligation on your part.

Grief
Loss
Identity
Adoption
Single parenting
Spiritual crisis
Women
Relationship Issues
Couples Counselling
Mindfulness

£55 - Individuals
£60 - Couples
£50 - Students undertaking recognised counselling training

I offer a FREE initial Zoom or telephone consultation to help you and I decide if I am the right counsellor for you.