Howard Widdicombe

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Counselling, Psychotherapy and Clinical Supervision
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

Woking, Surrey, GU21 3LB
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

Hello, I'm Howard Widdicombe.

Thank you for visiting my profile page. 

I have over 30 years experience as a Behavioural Psychologist, Psychotherapist, and Counsellor registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. I am the Principal of the Rowan Counselling Practice and offer short and longer term support through face to face appointments and on line consultations using visual platforms (e.g. Microsoft Teams, Skype, WhatsApp and Zoom).

Making the most of ourselves and our lives by doing the best we can, is a very basic motivational instinct that we all recognize within us. We all have within ourselves the potential to take charge of and influence our own life. Most of the time we seem to do 'just fine' but occasionally we experience ourselves or our lives as 'out of sorts' for a wide variety of reasons. Our natural instinctive reaction is to try to understand 'why' things have gone wrong and 'what' we can do to rectify the situation / make things better again. Often the harder we try the more difficult it becomes! 

Unfortunately, knowledge and insight, of themselves, are not sufficient to bring about the changes we seek in our internal personal experience of ourselves (feelings, sensations, thoughts) and our external perspective (perception, judgements, behavioural responses) to these difficult situations and circumstances.  If we could have thought our way out of the impact of adversity and traumatic experiences we would have done so a long time ago!!

We need to lean (a) how we have developed the unconscious, habituated patterns of sensation, thinking, feeling and behavioural responses that are not working for us and have contributed to our current level of dissatisfaction/'discomfort' and (b) how to influence, regulate and differentiate these outdated neuro-biological response patterns to create a new self-awareness and the attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours necessary to lead more personally satisfying rewarding and fulfilling lives.

Experience

I have 35 years experience of working professionally with people in a variety of roles including, Human Resources (Personnel) Manger, Company Training and Development Manager, Organisation Development and Change Management Consultant, Business Psychologist, Counsellor & Psychotherapist, Family Befriender and Classroom Assistant at a school for autistic children.

I am a Founder member of the Rowan Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice, the Surrey Counselling and Psychotherapy Initiative and the Counselling Directory

I have a B.Sc.(Hons) Degree in Behavioural Psychology and a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychotherapy.

I am a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society, a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and an Associate Member of the Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners.

My training has focused on:

  • Behavioural Psychology
  • Jungian, Gestalt, Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy
  • Person centered Counselling
  • Somatic Psychology

My Approach

The foundation of my work is in Somatic and Behavioural Psychology. I have extensive experience of a variety of humanistic psycho-educational diagnostic models and experiential approaches from both traditional and modern psycho-therapeutic disciplines. My background and training is therefore essentially integrative.

Over the past 30 years or so rigorous scientific research and methodology has been making extraordinary discoveries about the neuro-biological basis of learning, emotional memory and behaviour – the fundamental natural biological processes that underpin our feelings, sensations, and thoughts. Between them they create our awareness and shape our responses to our own internal personal experiences and our perception and judgments about our external world - in summary 'how' we function as human beings.

These insights view the relationship between our body and mind as a complex inter relational dynamic that seeks to maximise the influence that muscular memory and effort has over cortical experience. We now understand much more clearly how the relationship between our body and our mind works - how they ‘dialogue’ with and influence each other to form the experiences we have of ourselves (our internal world) and the world in which we live (our external world). We now know that our body influences our brain more than our brain influences our body. Our brain is biologically designed to give meaning to our experiences which have been created and stored in our somatic (body's) cellular structure.

In response to this pioneering research and emerging understanding of what it is to be a human being, a new and highly creative approach called Somatic Psychology has emerged which provides a theoretical framework and methodology to explain this relationship. It is changing the way we practice psychotherapy and guiding us in the direction of more effective work.

Somatic Psychology's theoretical framework is based on an evolutionary perspective which proposes that, as humans, we are in a continuous ongoing process, continually forming a somatic self in a personal way. We learn our way of being in the world as we become familiar with our somatic, emotional responses to ourselves and events in our lives.

Unmanaged excitation and muscular tension, which we experience as internal stress, anxiety and conflict, can lead to the development of a variety of symptoms and diseases such as chronic pain, high blood pressure, eczema, anxiety disorders, depression and dissociation. Somatic Psychology as an approach enables us to experience the function and purpose of our stress patterns. It can bring enormous relief to recognise that a stress pattern has a function and is not just ‘bad’. Acknowledging our personal way of reacting to internal stress and stressful situations helps us to adjust and recalibrate our behaviour in a non-judgmental manner in order to be able to respond differently and more appropriately in similar situations in the future.

Critically (and this is the crucial difference), this formative, experiential approach produces more than knowledge and insight. Because patterns of experience and behaviour are formed from a complex interaction of cortical (thoughts), emotional (feelings) and physical posture/structure, the practical methodology of Somatic Psychology focuses on explicitly exploring “how” we create the conscious experiences we have of our internal and external ‘world’. It helps make conscious the processes involved in influencing, regulating and differentiating our internal and external experiences  explicit and more accessible to us if they are stressful, unsatisfying or not working for us. It is a direct experiential approach to creating change and transition in ourselves and our experiences.  This, in turn, enables us to take responsibility for ourselves if we wish to do so rather than having to hope that some unconscious process will effect the changes we seek. This way of working also enables us to moderate the influence of our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems which governs our 'fight', 'flight', 'freeze' or 'appease' (fawn) reactions that we often find overwhelming, disorienting and unhelpful, and engage our Ventral Vagal nervous system which is responsible for our internal sense of well-being and our external capacity to respond appropriately to the challenges we encounter in the vast array of situations and circumstances we encounter as we live our lives..

Somatic Psychology enables us to learn how to dialogue cooperatively with our body in order to influence and differentiate our feelings, sensations, thoughts and personal behavioural responses. We can discover ways to regulate ourselves under stress, to reduce symptoms and feelings of helplessness and organise a more emotionally integrated way of acting and living a personal life. Engaging with our Autonomic Nervous System enables small finely managed changes in our relationship to ourselves and our outer world to emerge, become stabilised and consistent. We can create an inner dialogue and a reflexive capacity that facilitates the adaptation and differentiation of our behaviour. This experience guides us to our own felt insights, and sense of a way forward from our dilemmas rather than imposing ‘habituated "I must/I've got to" solutions. When we become aware of, and then influence, regulate and differentiate our somatic structure we we enter into a transformative state, an inner calm and a deep and very satisfying self-contact. This relational field creates warmth and allows novel behaviours to appear that can be shaped into an individual response which enables us to experience increased flexibility, and a sense of structure and containment. As a result we perceive conflicts or stressful situations from a broader perspective and improved self-regulation. Using the Somatic Psychology  approach/methodology enables us to use unsettling and disturbing experiences, transitions and crises as an opportunity to form new personalised answers to life’s challenges and to grow a more accepting, warm and satisfying relationship to ourselves, other people and the world.

Deb Dana, Stanley Keleman, Peter Levine, Stephen Porges, Bessel Van der Kolk  are amongst the worlds foremost acknowledged foundesr, pioneer and expertsin the development of Somatic Psychology. you might want to take a lok at their websites along with experienced Practitioners including Dr Scott Lyons, Nkem  Ndefo, Dr Arielle Schwartz, and  Gerhard Zimmermann. approach. I have included further references to their approach and work on my web site.

My areas of experience/expertise

I use the Somatic Experience/Formative Psychology approach/methodology to work with a wide range of issues including:

  • Anger & conflict
  • Anxiety
  • Autistic spectrum disorders
  • Behavioural difficulties
  • Bereavement
  • Bullying
  • Career Coaching & Development
  • Change & transition
  • Communication skills
  • Dependency
  • Depression (feeling low)
  • Developmental delay
  • Dreams
  • Eating disorders
  • Envy & jealousy
  • Fear & phobias
  • Grief & loss
  • Guilt & shame
  • Learning difficulties
  • Loneliness & isolation
  • Obsessions
  • Panic
  • Parenting skills
  • Personal growth & development
  • Relationship issues
  • Self-awareness
  • Self confidence / esteem
  • Sexuality
  • Stress
  • Trauma
  • Valuing difference in others
  • Work related issues

I also provide Clinical Supervision for Counsellors and Psychotherapists and Coaching and Mentoring for all those with ongoing responsibility for people as part of their work.

In addition to my psychotherapy practice I continue to design and run numerous workshops and seminars on personal and professional development through my business consultancy practice The People Partnership. This is for people who work in private, public and not for profit organisations. 

Please visit my website (www.howardwiddicombe,co,uk) for more detailed information about what I have written here. 

You will notice that I sometimes refer to services or events from other counsellors or psychotherapists. There are also links to other web sites that you might find useful.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Training, qualifications & experience

I have over 20 years experience working as a counsellor and psychotherapist. My training has focused on Behavioural and Formative psychology, Jungian, Gestalt, Humanistic and Integrative psychotherapy and person centered / psychodynamic counselling.

I have a:-

  • B.Sc (Honours) degree in Behavioural Science from Aston University in Birmingham
  • Post Graduate Diploma in Psychotherapy from Spectrum, the UKs leading centre for formative, humanistic and integrative psychotherapy.

I have listed the main subject areas below for your interest and information:-.

Professional Training

My training has focused on:

  • Behavioural and Formative psychology
  • Jungian, gestalt, humanistic and integrative psychotherapy
  • Person centred counselling

The main subject areas covered in my Spectrum training are listed below. More detailed information can be found in the Spectrum brochure or on their website

  • How to become a Spectrum trained psychotherapist
  • One year course in Psychotherapy
  • One year continuation course
  • Post graduate course in Psychotherapy
  • Post graduate continued education programme.
  • Formative Psychology with Stanley Keleman (Center for Bio-energetic studies - California)
  • Stress and self-management workshops with Gerhard Zimmermann (Southampton Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice)

Personal and professional development

  • Action techniques in therapy
  • Working with anger
  • Developing clinical intervention skills
  • Gestalt Therapy - theory and practice
  • Men for Men
  • Practical Application of Interpersonal Relationship Skills
  • Practice Management for Psychotherapists and Counsellors
  • Process Oriented Coaching programme
  • Professional Dream workshops (based on formative psychology)
  • Professional Seminar series (which looks at the dynamics of a therapeutic relationship)
  • Sexuality (basic, intermediate and advanced) & childhood sexual abuse (occurrence & prevention)
  • The way we work (an opportunity to talk about the work of, and work with, other Spectrum therapists)
  • Transforming Relationships
  • Supervision
  • Working with Couples (Supporting intimacy)
  • Working with Groups

Residential Programme

  • Marathons (24 to 96 hours in length looking at areas of particular personal interest in depth)

Workshops and seminars

  • Dreams
  • Reparenting
  • Family work (Fathers & sons; Fathers & daughters)
  • Self esteem
  • Relationships

Other training

  • Counselling Skills Programme (Westminster Pastoral Foundation)
  • Effective Techniques for dealing with Somatisation (Margaret Landale)
  • Psychotherapeutic Techniques for affect regulation (CONFER)
  • Exploring the Mind in the Body (Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy)
  • Ways of working with the Body (Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy)
  • Working with Breathing (Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy)

I am also trained and have worked as a:-

  • Telephone counsellor
  • Befriender and Respite Worker with families who have children with learning and development impairments.
  • Teacher Support Assistant in a special needs school for children with autistic impairments

I continue to attend a wide variety of courses, seminars and workshops which relate to specific areas of interest or expertise. I have regular clinical supervision for my client work. I also subscribe and consciously adhere to BACP code of ethics for my professional practice. I am committed to participating and involving myself without prejudice as to age, class, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation or upbringing.

I am included on the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists Voluntary Register which is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.

Membership of Professional Organisations

  • Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CFCIPD)
  • Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society (MBPsS)
  • Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP)
  • Associate Member of the United Kingdom Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners (AMUKAHPP)
  • Qualified practitioner of the British Association of Psychological Type (BAPT)

Member organisations

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 have an established private practice and extensive experience of working with individuals, couples, parents, families, children, young adults and mixed ongoing personal development groups on a wide range of issues connected to exploring and experiencing ourselves and others as a means to leading a more satisfying, healthy and rewarding life

My other areas of interest are:-

  • Allergic reactions
  • Behavioural difficulties
  • Bullying
  • Change and transition
  • Communication skills
  • Conflict resolution
  • Dreams
  • Emotional difficulties
  • Fears & phobias
  • Grief and loss
  • Guilt & shame
  • Learning and development difficulties
  • Life style changes
  • Loneliness & isolation
  • Obsessive compulsive behaviours
  • Parenting skills
  • Personal development and growth
  • Self confidence & self esteem
  • Sexual development
  • Shock
  • Sleep disorders
  • Transforming relationships
  • Work issues

I provide Clinical Supervision for practicing counsellors and psychotherapists.

I also offer Coaching, Mentoring and Training for all those with ongoing responsibility for others as a significant part of their work (e.g. nurses, social workers, probation officers, teachers, therapists, training and development practitioners /professionals.

Fees

£90.00 - £125.00

Additional information

My fees are currently £90.00 per one hour session for individuals and £110.00 per hour for couples and £125.00 per hour for families and groups unless we agree otherwise. I am willing to discuss my fee rate if you are unwaged or faced with particularly difficult financial circumstances.

I increase my fees annually on September 1st each year by approximately £5.00 per session.

When I work

I offer appointments from 9am - 9pm Monday to Friday and at weekends by prior agreement

32 Armadale Road, Goldsworth Park, Woking, Surrey, GU21 3LB

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone

Types of client

Children
Young people
Adults
Older adults
Couples
Families
Groups
Organisations
Employee Assistance Programme

Supervision

In person

Supervision available.

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