Alison Thorpe

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I am currently offering counselling and therapy online and in-person in Brighton.  I also teach and utilise a self-help approach called 'Focusing' (www.focusing.org.uk) which brings profound benefits. I work in an "experiential" way which means encouraging you to pay attention to what comes to mind when you take a pause, and see how the life issue you're talking about feels - this can be a subtle bodily sense of something important to you, but can also be in the form of an image or metaphor that surprisingly captures your issue, and leads to ways forward.  A relevant memory or experience might come to mind that is right and helpful.  It can be a common experience to talk about what's affecting you but things haven't fundamentally changed - although it can also be a relief to share a burden with another person who listens and cares. Pausing and listening to ourselves, which might seem strange at first, often leads to surprising, revealing and very helpful results. Some people find that learning focusing puts them in touch with their real or core self in a way they'd not experienced before which can be incredibly affirming, bringing forward movement from situations or experiences that have felt very stuck or repetitive.

I work with trauma and can offer help if you've survived difficult childhood experiences, including sexual abuse. A lot of people (myself included before I learnt focusing) don't realise that difficult experiences such as depression, anxiety, feeling stuck or hopeless, ongoing life dissatisfaction and so on, very often have their roots in childhood experiences as well as experiences in adult life that we haven't got over. Trauma is a way of saying something was overwhelming to us and we could not deal with it at the time. And it then becomes stuck. It can be surprising what has affected us that we may not have ever realised. Experiential counselling and Focusing can reach to the heart of things and bring needed relief. 

I personally had a lot of counselling  before I found focusing as a self help practice and focusing-oriented therapy and felt that here at last was something that really helped me. Before that I basically thought it was something about me, as a person, that made me stuck and unhappy. I have now have made all sorts of connections between things that happened in my life and how they affected me, as well as touching into something within me that was guiding me to what was, and is, right for me - a life-forward direction. 

I work with various issues people struggle with - anxiety, depression, relationship and work issues, stress, bereavement, identity, feeling sad, unhappy or unfulfilled. Often it is hard to even name what we're seeking help for. I am happy to have an initial session with you to explore what's going on for you, and how we might work together.

Initial 50 minute session: £25, ongoing sessions £50 online, £55 in person. I do offer cheaper sessions but am not able to do so currently as my lower-cost spaces are full. 

Counselling can give you:

• a more solid sense of who you are in the world
• more inner resources and ability to cope
• freedom from the limitations and pain of unresolved trauma
• relief from sharing a burden so it's no longer overwhelming or weighing down on you.
• a realisation that what you feared can be shared, understood, and not judged, and that you're okay.

It can feel daunting and scary to contact a counsellor. I'm warm and approachable and clients have often shared that it was easier than they thought it was going to be. People have also said that they have been able to share embarrassing or traumatic or shameful or unusual experiences with me and felt heard, understood and safe.

You can contact me by text, phone or email, whatever is easiest or convenient for you.