Alexandra Cotton
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am a psychodynamic counsellor and work with individuals and couples, teenagers and adults. Counselling is about looking at oneself from a new perspective. Exploring your feelings and behaviour with the help and impartiality of a professional counsellor can enable you to make sense of issues and problems which may feel unbearable and often paralysing. By understanding yourself better, you can begin to move forward in life.
I offer an initial assessment session where we can talk about why you feel you may like some counselling, and decide whether working together may be helpful to you.
Psychodynamic counselling means understanding what is troubling you both consciously and unconsciously. It involves exploring your early relationships and understanding how they connect with difficulties you may be having with people in your current life, especially partners, parents, children, siblings and work colleagues.
Areas in which I have particular expertise include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Abuse
- Sexuality
- Relationship problems
Training, qualifications & experience
I began my training by gaining a Certificate in Counselling Skills and Attitudes from the Westminster Pastoral Foundation in London. I qualified as a psychodynamic counsellor in 1998 from the Manor House Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy, London, a BACP accredited course.
I worked in a GP surgery for three years and then as a student counsellor at the University of North London followed by the University of Winchester. I worked at Compass Counselling in Lymington for seven years before setting up in private practice from home in North Dorset.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Assessments and further sessions are charged at £50 for individuals and £80 for couples. I have a small number of lower fee places, which I am happy to discuss if you would like to get in touch.
When I work
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