Adele MacCallum

Do you constantly worry and feel anxious? Are you needing some support to manage the anxiety you experience? Whether you are anxious about something specific (e.g. health, social situations, finances, work, family/parenthood) or you worry excessively about 'everything and anything', or, perhaps the worst part for you, is not even knowing what it is you are worrying about: I do get it! This can feel unsettling, confusing, fear-inducing and exhausting. Is, "What if..." a familiar thought? Do you often jump to the worst case scenario and find it hard to stop your thoughts spiralling? Do you find that when you are not worrying, you 'worry about not worrying' and you  look for something to worry about? Constant worrying can make it difficult to enjoy what is happening in the 'here and now' and can lead to feelings of depression, alongside low self-esteem.  

I can help you to explore and make sense of your anxieties and support you in coping in a more helpful way, allowing you to manage your anxiety for yourself. As well as providing a listening ear and a space to explore your difficulties, I will introduce you to suitable tools and techniques to meet your needs, enabling you to be able to help yourself during times of anxiety (becoming your own therapist). Amidst fear and anxiety, you may feel you have lost your way, somewhat. If you are feeling a little lost, I can also support you in (re) discovering 'you', allowing you to move forward in a more meaningful direction

Please kindly note, If making an email enquiry, please have a check in your spam/junk folder as sometimes my email replies find their way in there.

How I can help:

Hello! I am Adele, an experienced Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. I appreciate the courage it takes to ask for help therefore, I will meet you with kindness & compassion. I consider myself to be a very down-to-earth person and easy to talk to. It can sometimes feel like others just don't understand how relentless and limiting anxiety can be.  I have a special interest in working with clients who experience anxiety, especially Generalised Anxiety Disorder (where worry is excessive and present most, or all of the time and is about lots of different things). I am passionate about supporting you in managing your anxiety: helping you to start doing the things that you have perhaps avoided but you feel are so important to you; helping you to challenge anxious thoughts so that you feel more in control, rather than filled with fear and to reclaim confidence and happiness to allow you to live a fulfilling life.

As well as providing a listening ear and a space to explore your difficulties, I will introduce you to suitable tools and techniques to meet your needs, enabling you to be able to help yourself during times of anxiety (becoming your own therapist). Amidst fear and anxiety, you may feel you have lost your way, somewhat. If you are feeling a little lost, I can also support you in (re) discovering 'you', allowing you to move forward in a more meaningful direction. 

How we can work together?

I offer 'in-person' sessions and also offer online and telephone sessions (UK-wide). This allows you to have sessions in the comfort of your own surroundings which can often feel a lot less daunting and more familiar, for many. Through having a wealth of experience of working with many clients who have experienced anxiety, I have grown to appreciate how important it is for a therapist to have specific skills and experience when supporting clients who struggle with debilitating anxiety. I do understand how paralysing anxiety can feel therefore, having a 'tool-kit' to help you to manage anxiety for yourself, is both extremely helpful and empowering.

CBT is a talking and 'doing' therapy that helps you to become aware of how your thoughts and behaviours impact the way that you feel. By making small changes to how we think and respond, can make a big difference to how we feel. CBT is not a long-term therapy with sessions typically lasting between 6-20 sessions but this can be increased depending on your individual needs. NICE Guidelines (clinical guidelines) recommends CBT as a treatment for anxiety disorders. For some people, they can notice some helpful changes in as little as 6-8 sessions. I will support you in working towards achieving your life-goals, which we can explore together. I truly value us working side-by-side. Together, we will gently get to the root of the problem and we will explore helpful ways of thinking and coping to allow you to start enjoying life, once more.

I will be led by you regarding working on the areas you wish to focus on, at a pace that feels helpful for you. I take time to do a careful and thorough assessment of your difficulties, to ensure we create a treatment plan that is going to be helpful and best suit your needs. You will always be at the centre of this process as whilst I am the expert in CBT, you are the expert in you. I will listen to you empathetically and carefully, allowing you to explore overwhelming thoughts and feelings in a supportive and safe space. I will also help you to understand why your body and brain responds in the way that it does (provide psychoeducation) which, in my experience, when you can understand and rationalise why you experience the thoughts, feelings and physical sensations that you do, it can often take the 'sting' out of worrying about what you are experiencing. 

Next steps...

I welcome you to get in touch to ask questions that you may feel will help you to decide if I feel like the right 'fit' for you as I value how important it is for you to work with the right therapist. I offer in-person and online sessions. Please feel welcome to get in touch by phone, email or send an enquiry message. All messages are treated confidentially and I will respond within 24 hours. Please kindly check spam folder as sometimes replies find their way in there :-).

FAQ 

Q. I have had CBT in the past and didn't find it helpful.

A. Sometimes, when people are referred for CBT, it can be very time-limited. My approach is very different as I have time to work with you. We can take the time we need, and feels workable for you, to explore your difficulties. I very much see you as individual, with your own unique needs and I embrace this in our time together.

Q. I am not sure about trying online sessions.

A. How will you know unless you give it a go? Many people say that once they start talking, they don't see a screen and feel like they are in a room with me. It can be far more convenient for those under time pressure to pop onto a device than to make their way to a building. It also allows you to feel comfortable in your own home/car/surroundings which can be especially helpful when you may feel emotional. I encourage you to give it a go and see how it feels.

Q. I want to start sessions but it feels a bit daunting.

A. Nothing is scarier than staying stuck. How will you know unless you give it a go? We take everything at your own pace and I will be led by you. You are here reading this which is the first step, the second one is making contact and asking any questions to help get a feel for what your next steps may be.

An additional area I also have a wealth of experience of working with is 'Perfectionism'. Perhaps you tend to set yourself exceptionally high, unrealistic and unachievable expectations. Do you find yourself basing your self-worth against your ability to fulfil these self-imposed expectations? Together, we can explore how you cope with this and what drives the behaviours you participate in. In doing so, I can support you in achieving more balance in your life through both cognitive and behavioural changes. 

I welcome your enquiry. If you are waiting on an email response from me, please kindly check spam or junk mail folder as sometimes replies have a habit of finding their way in there :-). 

£50 per online session (lasting 50 minutes).

£60 per 'in-person' session (lasting 50 minutes).

What will you get from your counselling sessions?

You will be met with warmth and understanding and offered a safe space to  explore your difficulties. As CBT is not a long-term therapy, my aim would be to support you in feeling better as quickly as we can. After a thorough assessment, I will support you in deciding the areas of difficulty you wish to focus on and together, we will work on providing you with tools and techniques to help reduce and manage anxiety. This means you can become your own therapist, once our time together ends; whenever this feels right for you.  We will regularly review our work together to ensure you are getting the most from your sessions. 

Have any questions to ask me? Feel welcome to reach out by telephone or email and I will happily help. Please kindly check junk mail or spam folder as sometimes email replies have a habit of ending up in there! :-)

Next steps?

I offer a free fifteen minute telephone/zoom consultation to allow you to ask any questions and to help you to decide if I am the right counsellor for you.  Alternatively, if you feel more comfortable talking on the telephone or simply sending me an email, please feel welcome to do so. 

If you wish to book a session with me, we would have a first session to get to know each other and to gently explore any difficulties you would like to work on. If you are happy to continue with your sessions, we would normally have weekly sessions (clients tend to have between 6 and 20 sessions but this is variable). I am always keen to do what works for you.

I offer  Face-to Face and Remote therapy sessions (online or telephone). We can discuss what works best for you.

With best wishes,

Adele