About me
Life seldom goes along without the occasional challenge. However, sometimes these challenges can be overwhelming. The choices you make, or indeed those missed opportunities, can leave you feeling despondent. If your daily life is being affected by your thoughts and feelings and you want to change this, counselling can help.
Bereavement, relationship breakdown or problems at work can lead to stress, anxiety and depression which can make you feel like you have nowhere to turn and questioning your own decisions. Therapy can help rebuild your self esteem and resilience by exploring your thoughts and feelings in a relaxed and safe environment.
I offer person centred counselling, a form of counselling which involves listening to you, thinking together, sharing ideas, and giving feedback without any judgement. This enables you to make decisions or come to terms with the issues in your life.
Deciding to come for counselling can be quite daunting, so I like to offer a free 30 minute initial meet and greet session. During this time we can get to know each other and you can tell me what you are looking for in counselling before you decide whether I would be someone you feel comfortable talking to.
If you then wish to come to counselling regularly, during our first full session we will discuss how often (weekly or fortnightly) you will attend and for how many sessions. Sessions will last approximately one hour.
You will not be told what to do, but encouraged to talk openly and honestly about the issues which have brought you to counselling.
Training, qualifications & experience
I completed my training in Person Centred Counselling in 2012 and qualified with a Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. I am a registered member of the BACP and adhere to their ethical framework.
Qualifications include:-
Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
Certificate in Counselling Skills
Counselling Concepts
Continuing professional development - working towards BACP accreditation and BSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy
Current DBS on update system
Experience in working with young people (14 plus) and adults.
I worked for Salford Education for 16 years with young people aged 14-16 in a life coaching and advising position helping them to make decisions about their future.
Salford’s Safeguarding Training (Level 2)
I chose person centred counselling because I believe it is the relationship between client and counsellor that empowers the client to change.
Member organisations

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP is one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapists registered with the Association fall into a number of different membership categories such as Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP and Registered Member MBACP (Accred), each standing for different levels of training and experience. MBACP (Accred) and MBACP (Snr Accred) members have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by the Association.
Registered members can be found on the BACP Register, which was the first register to achieve Accredited Voluntary Register status issued by the Professional Standards Authority. Individual Members will have completed an appropriate counselling and/or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but will not appear on the BACP Register until they've progressed to Registered Member MBACP status.
All members are bound by a Code of Ethics & Practice and a Complaints Procedure. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership

Accredited Register Scheme
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
Therapies offered
Fees
I offer a free 30 minute initial meeting and thereafter my fees per session are:
£40.00 per session
Concessions are available - please contact me to discuss
Concessions offered for
Further information
Young People aged 14-16
Young people will have to have the agreement of their parent or carer to attend counselling. You would both be required to attend the meet and greet session but thereafter the young person would be seen on their own for up to 50 minutes depending upon their emotional wellbeing. For further information please contact me.
Contact details
You can contact me as follows:-
By telephone or text 07305 072432
via email to allisonhartmancounselling@yahoo.com