About me
I’m Alex, a BACP-registered counsellor offering weekly therapy in Cheadle, the High Peak and online. I work with adults who feel anxious, ashamed, stuck or disconnected, including people struggling with recurring patterns in their relationships or facing a significant change in life. I also have particular experience supporting men through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Sessions are £70 for 60 minutes, and I offer a free 20-minute introductory call.
Why I Do This Work
I think it matters that I’ve sat in the client’s chair for hundreds of hours. I cannot know what it will feel like for you, but I have grappled — and continue to grapple — with what it is to be me. I know how difficult that can be.
This work has saved me more than once. I often think of it as the slow, honest work of being human. Over time, I’ve come to believe in the power of stories. Not as fictions or even necessarily as explanations, but as a way of making sense of being alive. Life, as I experience it, is both a gift and a tragedy, and I try to hold both. In my own way, I want to be part of the story we are telling about ourselves.
As I see it, the world is becoming relentlessly brighter, faster and more impersonal. Electrified, measured, data-driven. Continuous loops of short-form video, curated by algorithms designed to capture and hold our attention. I sense a collective disquiet.
Often, I’ve found that what matters most to people lives in the dark, in the places we fear, the parts of ourselves we hide and the mysteries we cannot quite name. This is the gold in the depths of the well. I believe that everything belongs and nothing is truly isolated. We are all threads in a much wider web of connection. Therapy, at its best, is one of the places where that reality can be spoken and felt.
Fundamentally, I’m here for the conversation: for the attempt to speak honestly about what it is to be alive, to suffer, to love and to change.
Training, qualifications & experience
Before qualifying as a counsellor, I worked in an NHS-funded role supporting men in early parenthood. As a result, I bring some particular experience and understanding to my work with men, babies and young families. I’ve also had my own experiences in therapy, and I think this is significant for the work I now do. Early on, I found therapy very difficult. How to trust the person sitting across from me? How to risk being seen, being heard? A consistent approach benefited me, and over time I found the process deeply healing. I also became fascinated by what the therapist was doing.
This led me to train at Re-Vision in London, in an approach called Integrative Transpersonal Counselling. It brings together psychodynamic and humanistic traditions with a soulful, imaginative perspective. It is grounded in the idea that what we struggle with is not simply something to be managed: it may also carry meaning and point us towards new possibilities and growth. Fundamentally, I'm interested in what it is like for you to be you. What deep patterns do you notice? How are those patterns expressed in your relationships, and how might we spot them in the room together?
Clients have described me as calm, compassionate, thoughtful and down-to-earth. These steady qualities help to give the work a sense of safety. At the same time, I hope to be inquisitive, challenging and receptive to change. I think these qualities can give the work a sense of aliveness.
Member organisations
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
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
What Brings People to Therapy?
Some people come to therapy with a clear sense of what they want to work on. We might describe this as the presenting issue. There is an urgent story that needs to be told, a crisis to be managed, a decision to be made.
For others, it is not at all obvious. It’s more like a feeling, an intuition, or a quiet voice they can sometimes detect within themselves. Something isn’t right. This isn’t what life was supposed to be like. Often, people don’t have the words for this experience. They might notice it in their body. They might feel heavy, notice tension, or lack motivation. They could also be glimpsing patterns that they only half understand.
Whatever brings you to therapy, I’ve found that the support of someone trained to sit with difficult feelings and experiences can create the space you need to begin making sense of what is happening.
Therapies offered
Fees
£70.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Getting Started: I offer a free 20-minute phone call so you can get a feel for how I work and whether it feels like a good fit.
If we decide to begin, sessions are weekly and last for 60 minutes. There’s no fixed number of sessions - we’ll review as we go.
Where to Find Me: Cheadle, Manchester
Yoga Sangha - The Suite L2, Institute, Cheadle SK8 2BD
How We Work Together: Therapy works best when it’s regular and consistent. Most clients meet weekly at an agreed time. You’re free to stop at any point - I simply ask that we have a final session to bring things to a thoughtful close.
When I work
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