Amanda Reynolds

I know thinking about getting some counselling can feel daunting and fill you with even more anxiety.

It can feel a little confusing with so many types of therapy and people who offer it.

I remember looking for a counsellor myself, years ago, and wanting to ask many questions. It felt important to find someone I could trust and be comfortable with, so I could just be myself.

Being able to connect with your counsellor can mean the difference between a good or bad experience for you, which is why I offer free introductory calls to people who may interested in working with me. 

I am calm, open and honest, and I will bring myself into our counselling space in this way. I offer a non-judgemental, safe and quiet space for you to talk and be heard.

I understand you may know something is wrong but might not be sure what it is, or feel like you struggle each day with anxiety and low moods and are uncertain how to change it. This can lead to feeling exhausted, burnt out and overwhelmed, with a sense of not knowing where to start or how to stop something from happening. I can help you with this.

I want you to get the most out of counselling that you can, so it is worth your while coming. Therapy is an investment in yourself, and when you are ready to make that commitment I will be there to support you. You deserve to feel better.

My clients often tell me that I am a warm and relaxed person, we enjoy a good giggle and lightness at times, because it's just as important as holding the heavy and more serious moments too. I value openness and honesty and will be reliable for you. 

I’m a professional member of the BACP and I’m registered with the International Commissioners Office (ICO), the UK’s independent regulator for data protection. I value your confidentiality and treat all my clients with respect, and compassion. 

Who I work with:

I work with lots of people who are distressed and experiencing many things such as anxiety, depression, neuro-diverse challenges, and low self-esteem. I work with individuals who have autism. I also work with people who have experienced childhood sexual,  emotional and physical abuse, abuse by partners or family and trauma events. I work with students, career professionals, parents, emergency workers and individuals who feel they have hit burnout and find day-to-day living overwhelming and feel absolutely exhausted.

If any of these resonate with you, I would encourage you to take the next step and get in touch for a short introductory call, it’s free and only lasts about 20 or 30 minutes and there is no obligation to book anything further.

Why talking therapy?

Counselling and psychotherapy can change lives. It’s not a dramatic quick fix, although at times it can really shift you into a new awareness that helps you. It brings hope, change and a new confidence to who you are. It can reconnect you with your real self, help you discover and explore your needs, and give you the skills to find your own voice and make changes to your life that are for the better. I have seen this happen many times and that is why I believe in it and offer it to people like you, searching for a better something.

Through understanding and processing difficult emotions, changes can occur and we do this together, collaboratively so we find the best way to work with you and for you, so your counselling can feel successful to you.

How I work:

My professional training and experience mean I believe you are the expert of you and through our sessions together you will gain an understanding of what is going on for you, which will help you to gain confidence, recognise your own needs, learn to value yourself and find your own voice, bringing changes to your life for the better. 

My person-centred, humanistic approach means I work at your pace, exploring your life and the challenges and struggles you are facing.

I offer a safe space for you to learn how to trust yourself and grow in strength through talking and exploring your feelings and emotions. My approach focuses on you as a whole person and considers the social environment that has shaped you and the outside world that might be imposing upon you causing you feelings of oppression, shame or guilt, regret, and loss. 

I can offer you various techniques to facilitate you in your distress and support you in exploring difficult and challenging emotions. I am creative in how I work and may suggest we write a timeline or draw something, or we consider using emotion cards or different objects to help you express your critical voices or explore the different parts of yourself. These may be unknown to you, or just on the edge of your awareness. When we explore them with a gentle curiosity, confusing or complex behaviours and feelings can become clearer, which can facilitate change in your life.

I often teach grounding techniques and find these particularly successful.

I also have the training and an interest in exploring how our emotions and experiences are stored in our bodies. We might not feel safe in our own bodies or with others and have many things we would like to share with someone else and counselling can provide an opportunity for you to explore feelings of shame, secrets, self-sabotage and intrusive thoughts.

We can be affected by feeling a certain way or in particular situations or with familiar people and often feel triggered and unsafe. I may offer psycho-education around this or other areas of interest if you would like them, so you can understand why or what drives certain behaviours you might have that you wish to change, or do more of. 

At work with you in a gentle, trauma-informed way to enable you to understand past events that may be creeping up on you and into your thoughts. Memories seem to pop up or resurface that may need processing and exploring for you safely and gently, and we can do this together, you are always in control of our sessions. I will walk beside you and stay and support you when we explore your dark shadows together as well as the lighter and more positive aspects of your life. 

Clients with Autism

I offer an Autism informed way of working which means we can talk about ASC, how it may bring challenges for you, and together we can make reasonable adjustments to support your needs in the counselling sessions. Working at a pace to suit you. 

First sessions and what to expect:

Once we have had our free introductory call, and you are ready to start, I can book you in and we will have our first session together. Usually, we work towards 6 sessions at first and then decide where you would like to go from here. 

We sit together and talk. You don’t lie on a couch or get asked to do anything odd or like you’re in drama class again. I use my training to support you and help you to feel safe so we can explore the difficulties you are facing.

I will ask you a few more questions so we can explore and identify what it feels like to be you, in your world, and we will discuss what your hopes or goals are for counselling. We will talk about how you like to process information and how you prefer to work with me.

I don’t make you do or say anything you do not want to and you are not expected to behave in any certain way, just try to be your true self. Who you are, and being able to be your true self is going to be really useful for you to get the most out of your sessions and for our relationship to work well for you.

Being able to be open and honest will really help move your sessions forward in a positive way and my training helps to keep you safe whilst guiding you or gently refocusing you back to your aims and or goals for coming to therapy in the first place.

I understand counselling can make you feel very vulnerable and I will aim to help you feel as safe as possible as you share things during our sessions. Your counselling is all about you and you are always in control, we always work at your chosen pace and when we have a good and trusting relationship together I may also gently challenge you so we can keep on track to your counselling goals, and your sessions continue to benefit you until you feel ready to end.

Next steps:

I understand it is not a snap decision to look for a counsellor and I can help you to take things a step at a time, at your own pace, working together.

I offer a free introductory call, which is an opportunity for us to have a chat and find out if counselling sounds like something you might benefit from. You can also see if you like the sound of what I can offer you and find out if you feel comfortable talking to me.

Our relationship is key to your counselling success so it is important to me that you feel ready and comfortable with me. Then we can begin our work together for you, and make a difference in your life. 

It is always an honour to work with all my clients and I am always inspired by their openness, honesty and the wonderful positive changes they make in their lives., I look forward to hearing from you, when you are ready.

Daytime appointments:

• £45 per 60-minute session

Evening and weekend appointments: 

• £50 per 60-minute session  

Current availability: Weekday Availability.

*Concessions are available. I am happy to discuss your situation, I would rather you come for counselling and can discuss making counselling affordable for you.

Where do we have sessions?

Online, or by telephone.

Face to face. 

Sessions are carried out in my counselling room. This is a lovely quiet and comfortable space (featured in the photographs). It is a completely separate and secure building to my home, that will only be occupied by us. Our room will be on the first floor so you will need to be physically able to walk up one small flight of stairs. 

Walk and talk. 

From our counselling room, we are also in walking distance to a beautiful bird reserve, (featured as an aerial image in the photographs). Walk and talk therapy can often feel less intense and may be something you will prefer at times. 

Location:

There are plenty of buses to the village where my private practice is based. I am on the border of Wakefield, Leeds, and North Yorkshire. There is free parking outside. It is a quiet area, so when you leave after an upsetting or difficult session you will not be faced with a busy crowd or awkward situations bumping into people. All of my clients say they find this really helpful.  

When will we have sessions?

Weekly | Fortnightly | Monthly whichever suits you and your needs. Previous clients also return on an ad hoc basis when they feel they made need a session to work through something.

Staying safe with a working agreement together:

As a professional member of the BACP I work to their guidelines and always provide us with a working agreement, a bit like a contract. We will look at it together and both sign it before we start our session, we can even add elements to it personal to you if they help you to feel safe and secure and able to come to your therapy sessions. Working agreements cover how everything is confidential, and considers safeguarding, so we work both ethically and safely together. 

Your privacy and data:

Being registered with the ICO means I take care of all your personal information in a secure manner. I protect it in locked cabinets only accessed by myself or with digitally password protected and encrypted files, texts and emails. Your safety and privacy is always at the forefront of my private practice.

How Counselling Can Help You:

Counselling can empower you and support you in discovering a new voice, more confidence and self-belief. It can be a safe space to explore past events or process emotions that feel like they're holding you back and causing self-sabotage or addictive behaviours. It can show you how to learn to cope better and support yourself, how to ask for support and when to ask for help in the future.

I believe you have the potential to do all of these things, and that you deserve to value yourself even though it might feel you are not ‘good enough’ at the moment. My approach encourages you to be curious about overcoming constraints and at times can feel liberating, creating hope you can live your life in a more fully and creative way with new coping strategies.