This professional is currently not accepting new clients at this time.
This professional is currently not accepting new clients at this time.
About me
PLEASE NOTE: I am not currently accepting new clients. Face to Face is only available in Winton, Bournemouth. I also offer telephone and online counselling.
I support clients through distressing and difficult times and help them find themselves again when they feel lost or broken. I do this by providing a therapeutic relationship that my clients can use for their own personal growth.
I mainly work with people who are struggling with their self-worth or identity, navigating complex relational issues, or suffering as a result of difficult life events.
I also offer therapeutic coaching and psychological assessment.
My particular areas of specialism include:
- Managing stress and anxiety,
- Recovery from burnout,
- Finding yourself again after coming through something distressing,
- Improving self-worth, including body acceptance, identity and belonging,
- Working on your part in relationships,
- Living with neurodiversity, in yourself and/or family members,
- Psychological assessment - when you can't put your finger on 'what's wrong', I can help you figure that out.
- Treatment for flashbacks - Rewind.
Training, qualifications & experience
I went through my own transformational process in therapy, and now I help others go through their own. Therapy helped me re-discover myself under layers of conditioning.
Nowadays, I draw on skills learned in counselling to help me navigate life’s challenges. Yes, the challenges keep on coming even after you’ve got your head on straight. There’s no growth without challenge. I believe a good life is a journey, not a destination.
I am a BACP registered counsellor. I currently work part-time with the local NHS trust on their staff wellbeing service. I balance this with working part-time in my private-practice as a counsellor and life-coach. This mix of work gives me a wide variety of clients and experience with various presenting difficulties.
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
- Parenting
- Divorce
- Body-image
- Self-worth
- Self-acceptance
- Identity
- Belonging
- Life-challenges
- Relationships
- Flashbacks (especially if you are re-living one or two discreet events) - using REWIND
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£60.00 - £100.00
Free initial telephone session
Additional information
A 50-minute counselling session is typically £60. If cost is an issue, I can offer fortnightly sessions or single sessions and I may offer a discount for lower-income clients.
I also offer a one-off therapeutic assessment of 90 mins for £100. If you don't know what's 'wrong' with you (there might be nothing wrong), or what you need, then I'd recommend my assessment.
If you choose the single-session model, we treat every session as though it’s the last, but you can come back as many times as you wish (subject to availability and suitability). You simply book yourself in again whenever you feel you need another session -just use my booking page.
Online and telephone sessions are available nationally and you can even work with me from overseas.
In-person is only in Winton, Bournemouth, where I have an office at the YMCA building on Jameson Road.
When I work
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You can instantly check my availability and book a no-obligation consultation at https://calendly.com/alisonjeffries
Further information
My approach
All my work is underpinned by a person-centred approach, as developed by Carl Rogers. He once said “When a person is hurting, confused, troubled, anxious, alienated, terrified; or when he or she is doubtful of self-worth, uncertain as to identity, then understanding is called for. The gentle and sensitive companionship of an empathic stance… provides illumination and healing. In such situations deep understanding is, I believe, the most precious gift one can give to another.”
This is essentially what I do. I provide a powerful therapeutic environment in which clients can first recover and then grow. I may also draw on interventions and ideas that I believe may help in your specific circumstances. I use a range of tools from approaches including:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT),
- Internal Family Systems (IFS),
- Gestalt Therapy,
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT),
- Compassion-focussed therapy,
- Transactional Analysis (TA).
Brief therapy
Some people want to develop tools to tackle a specific life issue and would like to do so in a brief run of goal-focussed sessions. Examples include setting boundaries, finding ways to regulate your emotions, building confidence, or identify the line between things you can control and those you can't. We agree the goal in advance and I draw on tools from various approaches including coaching, CBT and Transactional Analysis to help you shift your mindset, adjust your behaviours and reach your goals.
Psychological assessment
My psychological assessments are similar to those offered via the NHS's anxiety and depression services, but more in-depth and not restricted to NICE recommend treatments. My objective is to help you figure out what is 'wrong', if anything, and suggest pathways that might help you overcome whatever is bothering you. The might include NHS pathways, private options (including working with me), charities or even self-help books. I do these over the phone and they take up to 90 minutes.
Rewind
Rewind is a highly effective therapy to regain control of flashbacks (involuntary recall of a distressing trauma memory, including nightmares). Over two to three sessions, I guide you through the process of regaining control of the memory, so that you file it properly in your mind. Rewind will only tackle one memory at a time and therefore is not suitable if you are suffering with multiple, entangled trauma memories (I recommend you find an EMDR therapist for that).
