Alison Chadwick
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Welcome
Hello there, and a warm welcome to you and whatever is bringing you to this page. I understand how taking the brave first steps into counselling can feel really hard.
I offer free 25-minute session, without any obligation for you to continue or enter into therapy. Hopefully this may create an opportunity for you to contemplate whether working together might feel comfortable, and if you would like to consider beginning to tell me your story.
How I can help you
My counselling approach places the therapeutic relationship at the heart of our work together. The fundamental aim of my practice is to offer you reliable kindness, with honesty and unwavering acceptance. I believe that only if you feel safe within a supportive therapeutic experience can you begin to trust and share what is concerning you.
Perhaps we can all sometimes get a little caught not knowing who we really are, we may still be influenced by the relationships we experienced. This can affect how we attach and interact with others and what we truly feel.
If you are feeling a little 'stuck' we can look what you might like to try to 'let go of' to feel more authentic and live with greater ease. Along your journey I will be alongside you and aim to match your rhythm at a respectful pace - which I hope feels right for you, with genuine compassion and the steadfast courage to hold the depths of all your thoughts, needs and painful feelings.
My hope is to create a space where you may grow stronger from what challenges you and heal through real, empathic connection, to find refreshed, hopeful solutions for the difficult issues you may be experiencing, and gain new understanding of yourself and increased confidence in your relationship with others.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications:
- BA (Hons) Counselling (Integrative) 1st class
- HE (Cert) Counselling & Interpersonal Skills
- Online and Telephone Counselling Certificate (CT)
- Awareness in Bereavement Care Certificate (CRUSE)
- Counselling Certificate (OCNW)
- Residential Social Care Certificate (CCETSW)
- Leadership & Management Certificate (ILM)
Training undertaken:
- Awareness of Trauma & Dissociation
- Relational Depth in Counselling & Psychotherapy
- Engaging Trauma through Body Psychotherapy
- Personalising Psychotherapy
- Systemic Constellation Approach
- Erotic Transference & Counter Transference
- Safeguarding
- GDPR 2018
- Introduction to Psychosynthesis
Experience:
I have a wealth of counselling experience from four different therapeutic agencies, offering one-to-one counselling provision for loss, bereavement, sexual abuse & trauma and broad-based therapy.
Background:
Before training to become an Integrative Counsellor I worked a variety of settings:
- Behavioural, transitional, inclusion and learning support - High school
- Customer service co-ordination - Higher education & local radio
- Admissions & patient services lead - Private healthcare
- Residential keyworker - MENCAP
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
Fees
£50.00 per session
Free initial in-person or online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Online, telephone & face-to-face (post Covid-19) one-to-one appointments.
- 25 minute no-fee, no-obligation taster session
- £45 per 50 minute session *of which £1 per session is donated to Moorfields Eye Charity.
- Concessions are available based on individual circumstances.
Please see: www.integrocounselling.co.uk for further information on terms & conditions
When I work
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I offer flexible availability covering weekdays (Monday-Thursday) and Tuesday-Wednesday evenings.
Further information
Online & Telephone Therapy
I returned to my comfortable, confidential practice room in the heart of Bury St Edmunds in September 21, following the Covid-19 restrictions, I am able to offer valuable face to face sessions across the week if this is your preference.
I am still providing a safe, meaningful alternative to face-to-face work. As a qualified online and telephone counselling practitioner, I can offer confidential support from your comfortable 'home' space, at a flexible time, to give support that 'fits' with your life and is yours to use as you need.
A blended approach is available which means you may choose to arrange some sessions face to face and some online which offers a flexibility to offer support that adapts to align with changes in your routine.
Your Introduction Session
Your initial session will take the form of an Introduction Appointment. In this time I will give you space to tell me a little about yourself, I will be curious to understand why you are considering therapy and what you would like to gain from counselling. I will give you an outline of how I work and offer space for you to ask about any aspects of my practice. Following this will invite you to consider provisionally arranging your first session, and if you would like me to send you some engagement paperwork to complete which confirms your appointment.
Your First Counselling Appointment
At the beginning of our first full session I will talk through the details in your counselling agreement and contract. Following this the space is yours to begin to talk through your concerns, you may feel a little anxious and I will help you to gently start the session. You may also feel excited that you are finally starting to take the first step in working through things that are concerning you.
Confidentiality
I work within the parameters of the BACP’s ‘Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions’ and the BACP’s ‘Guidelines for Online Counselling and Psychotherapy.’ I will explain how the content of our sessions are held confidentially between us. I will define what the exceptions to confidentiality are - and where I may be legally, ethically or morally bound to act in order to keep you or others safe from serious harm, which includes the NHS track and trace platform. I also have a responsibility to attend professional supervision to discuss my practice, where I may confidentially share some elements of our work together.
Privacy
At Integro Counselling, where I practice in partnership with Helen Cain, we are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Information you provide will only be used in accordance with the privacy statement available on our website: www.integrocounselling.co.uk. We hold a licence with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) our licence number is: ZA815346.
* As emails can occasionally find their way into spam/junk folders, you may wish to include your contact telephone number - and if you give permission to leave a message in any correspondence.
and lastly...
My origins are in Yorkshire and I have spent many years in Norfolk and Suffolk. My favourite pastime is being outdoors, my walking boots are never far from me, a beautiful landscape feels like free art to me. I am married and spending time with my blended family is important. I have spent time trying to work out what interpersonal relationships are all about and what causes human distress, I was a client long before I was a therapist - which led my pathway into training.
