Alison Smith
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This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
My name is Alison Smith, a qualified accredited counsellor, and a registered member of the BACP. I believe counselling is about providing a safe, confidential place where you can feel free to talk openly and be heard. I aim to provide support, warmth, understanding and compassion within my counselling service to encourage personal growth.
I have worked within an emergency service setting and have experience working with trauma, work related stress, emotional conflict, sexual abuse, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, illness and many other concerns. I have also worked for a well known charity for several years, working with a diverse range of age groups.
I believe it is important for clients to work at their own pace, so offer long term and short term therapy. Counselling can be difficult and painful but it can also be rewarding and life-enhancing.
If you feel I might be the right counsellor for you then please contact me either by email or telephone.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am qualified as a Person Centred Counsellor and registered accredited member of the BACP. I work in a Humanistic and integrative way. I initially worked as a volunteer counsellor within the emergency services for 3 years. I have worked as a contracted counsellor for MIND, working with young people and adults. I currently work within occupational health setting via Employee Assistance Programme. As well as this I am an associate counsellor for public service providers.
I continuously undertake courses to assist me in working in an integrative way so that I can bring different ways of working within counselling sessions.
Most recent courses:
Level 6 supervision
Relational therapy
Family attachments
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which involves adaptive thinking. Enabling clients to understand and accept what cannot be changed.
I have also undertaken Counselling for Depression, Emotion Focused Therapy - which focuses on working at a deeper emotional level to combat anxiety and depression through recognising physiological triggers.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Anxiety, depression, stress, fear, divorce, abuse, low mood, low confidence, feeling sad, feeling down, low self esteem, sorrow, grief, loneliness, miscarriage, work stress, bullying
Fees
£20.00 - £50.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Individual sessions will last for 1 hour.
Concessionary rate available on a sliding scale. This means I ask clients to chose their fee between the range of £20 to £50
When I work
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9 am Monday to Friday
Further information
Hours 0900 to 1900
Monday to Friday