Alison Day

Hi, my name is Alison and I am a fully qualified BACP Accredited and Relate trained counsellor working in the Maidstone area, with over 15 year's experience counselling individuals, couples, and children and young people over the age of 11 years.  I also work in local schools to provide counselling support for teenagers and for the last 11 years I have worked with young people and adults with autism and ADHD.

I offer counselling sessions in my counselling room separate to my house and I also offer online counselling via zoom, skype or telephone. Remote sessions have worked very successfully for lots of clients over the last year or so and can offer some valuable support if face to face sessions are not possible.

How Counselling can Help:

Counselling can make such a difference to people's lives.  It is a safe place to talk, where people can come and feel supported and listened to at a time in their lives when they need it most.  But it is more than that, it also offers an opportunity to raise self-awareness and understand our own feelings and emotions which can, in turn improve our resilience and ability to cope.

"Happiness is not the absence of problems.  It is the ability to deal with them".

I use an integrative approach to provide support, empathy and practical interventions to try to promote positive change.  However, the most important aspect of successful counselling I believe, is that you feel understood and supported and develop a strong and trusting therapeutic relationship with your counsellor as this will provide the foundation for a positive counselling experience and help build self confidence and belief that you can go forward to live the life you want.

"Life doesn't get easier - you just get stronger!"

My Experience:

Counselling Individuals:

I work with individuals to provide support and understanding around issues such as anxiety, social anxiety, anger management and anger issues, depression, grief, feeling sad, generalised anxiety disorder, low self esteem and lack of confidence, dealing with difficult feelings and emotional regulation and panic attacks and also to explore and understand how we connect with others and manage relationships, past and present. Perhaps also most importantly to help increase self awareness and understanding of the relationship we have with ourselves -which influences all areas of our lives, both practically and emotionally.

Relationship and Couple Counselling:

I am an Accredited member of the (BACP) British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and my initial training was with Relate therefore, I have extensive experience working with couples on all aspects of relational difficulties, such as communication, managing difficult feelings and emotions, understanding buried resentments which can cause coldness and conflict; the impact on relationships of affairs and also the stresses of managing significant life stages such as the birth of a baby, managing mid life or retirement, in fact all areas which can cause distress and disappointment in life.

Counselling Children over age 11 and Young People:

I have worked for many years counselling children and young people (teenagers) and use a strength based approach to increase self esteem by trying to highlight and explore their individual strengths rather than focusing solely on problems and weaknesses.  I currently work in a local secondary school for neurodiverse students where I encourage young people to find a way to talk about the difficulties they may be encountering.  These might include anxiety, bullying, self harm, family issues, depression, sleeplessness or often extremely challenging behaviour or emotional outbursts, at school and at home which can be difficult for everyone to understand or deal with.  Practically, we try to understand and process difficult emotions and then work on finding coping strategies which will enhance emotional regulation and help improve their self esteem, confidence and resilience and ability to cope with the demands of day to day life which can often include complicated family situations and pressures of school and adolescent life.

I have also worked at a pupil referral and student support unit counselling teenagers at high risk of permanent exclusion often due to their extreme and challenging behaviour and emotional difficulties.

Counselling Individuals and Children and Young People with Autism and Aspergers and ADHD:

I have worked for over 11 years counselling children and young people over the age of 11 with Autism and ADHD at a specialist school, to help them understand their emotions and find a way to talk about their anxieties and the difficulties they may be experiencing with peer relationships, family communications or low self esteem which may be related to their neurodiversity. I have also been a Specialist Mental Health Mentor supporting young people with Autism at local colleges and in further education.

I also work extensively in my Private Practice with individuals, children over aged 11, young adults with autism, or perhaps couples or families where there is a neurodivergent family member, to try to increase awareness and understanding around this and help those with neurodiversity to move forwards and live life authentically as themselves. Also to try to increase awareness and understanding of ADHD and ASD so there is increase compassion and understanding of the different needs we might all have.

My Approach:

Whether it is with children or families, couples or individuals, the basis of my approach is that we can explore together the difficulties you may be facing at this time.  This can include anxiety or depression, procrastination and lack of motivation, relationship breakdowns or separation, rows and conflict, affairs or bereavement and grief, family stress, and often perhaps unresolved issues from the past. Life must be lived forwards - but often it can only be understood backwards.

The effects of these problems can lead people to feel unwell or overwhelmed or perhaps unable to engage with others or cope with day to day life and can lead to strong feelings of disappointment and sadness with yourself and others.  Sometimes resulting in depression and anxiety or extreme tiredness or feeling unbalanced or demotivated.

Any of these issues can affect your day to day ability to live the life you want.  We can explore these issues and help raise your understanding of what has happened and support your ability to move forward with improved emotional well being and resilience.

Practically, we can also work on ways to manage stress and develop stronger emotional management strategies.  This may help you to take charge of your life and begin to care for yourself physically and emotionally so that you are able to move forwards to a future that is more full of hope and meaning and one where you can engage with others and enjoy life.  I believe that often the key to happiness is when you wake up wanting to embrace your future rather than trying to avoid your past.

Over 11 year's experience supporting children over the age of 11, teenagers, young adults and adults with Autism, Aspergers and ADHD.

Initially, I offer a free brief telephone consultation to help you to decide whether counselling is the right form of support for you or a family member. Please feel free to contact me via email at alisondaycounselling@gmail.com, or on telephone number 07738 545307 and we can discuss your reasons for considering counselling which will help us determine whether I am the best counsellor to support and work with you.

We can then arrange a convenient time for an initial 60 minute consultation which will enable us to discuss what you hope to gain from counselling and address any questions or concerns you may have.

Following this initial consultation, you can decide whether you wish to proceed with additional sessions and we can then arrange a regular appointment time for either short or long term work.

I offer flexible day time and evening appointments.  Sessions will be for 60 minutes every week or fortnight (unless agreed otherwise). I can offer face to face sessions or if  you prefer we can do an online counselling session via Skype, Zoom or on the telephone. The fee for your session will be:

£60.00-£65.00 per session for individuals and children 11 to 18 years

£65.00-£70.00 per session for couples

*some concessions available for students.

I work in an easily accessible private practice in the Bearsted and Maidstone area which enables me to be flexible about appointments and provide a confidential and comfortable space for clients which is in a separate building to my house.