Angharad Thomas

Hi, I'm Angharad, a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist and BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor.  With many years of experience, I provide professional, long- and short-term psychotherapy and counselling to adults and young people across North Wales, as well as online throughout the UK. 

Could Therapy Help Me?

Life can be challenging and, at times, we all experience distress or face difficulties that can be hard to manage alone.  Perhaps you're feeling anxious, depressed, or confused about relationships or work. You might be facing painful experiences through illness, bereavement, or family breakdown.  Maybe you feel stuck, lost, or are unsure of who you are. It could be that things just don’t feel right, and you're not sure why. Or you may be seeking to better understand yourself or your situation, or enhance your self - awareness.

Whatever your reason for getting in touch, I offer a reliable, supportive, and highly confidential space where you can speak freely about your concerns within a warm and secure relationship. Whilst therapy can be challenging at times, it can also be immensely rewarding. It offers the opportunity to understand the underlying causes of your difficulties, find relief from what's troubling you, explore new possibilities, and ultimately move forward with greater clarity and confidence.

How Can Therapy Help?

The goals of therapy are many, and among the most important are:

• Finding resolution to the issues or concerns that led you to seek therapy
• Gaining deeper self-awareness and clarity about your goals and values
• Improving your self-esteem and boosting self-confidence​ 
• Learning new ways to cope with stress and anxiety
• Better management of emotions such as anger, grief and depression
• Enhancing relationship skills and building healthier connections
• Changing old behaviour patterns and developing new ones
• Discovering new ways to address challenges within your family or marriage
• Strengthening communications and listening skills

Areas I Can Help With:

As a UKCP-registered psychotherapist, I am trained to work with a wide range of issues. That said, here are some areas in which I commonly work:

• Alleviating Anxiety & Depression
• Easing Stress & Lifting Low Mood
• Healing from Abuse & Trauma
• Navigating Loss & Bereavement
• Improving Relationships
• Exploring Identity Issues
• Building Self Esteem
• Adapting to Life Transitions
• Finding Purpose and Meaning

How to get started

Taking the first step in seeking help can be difficult and anxiety-provoking, especially if you’ve never had psychotherapy or counselling before. I understand this because I’ve been there myself and have experienced firsthand the benefits of therapy.

To help put your mind at ease, I've provided detailed information on my website (www.angharadthomas.co.uk) to give you an insight into psychotherapy and counselling, who I am and how we can work together.

Another way to find out more about who I am and how I can help is to get in touch via the contact form, text or email.   I’m also happy to speak briefly on the phone; if I’m unable to answer your call immediately, please leave a message, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. 

Meeting together for the first time

Meeting with a therapist for the first time can be a rather daunting experience. It’s normal to feel uncertain or even nervous about starting therapy, and I will do everything I can to make our first encounter as easy and relaxed as possible.  Although many people find that the first step is the hardest, once you begin, you’ll discover the benefits of having a dedicated space to explore your thoughts and feelings without judgement.

Once you decide to get in touch, we can arrange a time to meet, and I will send you a psychotherapy and counselling contract.  This contract doesn’t tie you into anything but rather explains my policies around confidentiality, payment, cancellations, and more, ensuring that if we decide to work together, we do so within safe and clear boundaries. I’ll also send you directions to my office, which offers a quiet and discreet place to meet.

When we meet for our first session, I will invite you to begin discussing what brings you to therapy and explore your expectations.  I may ask some questions to learn more about you and your situation.  We can also talk through any concerns or anxieties you have about the therapeutic process, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions if you are unsure about anything.

At the end of our first session, if we both feel that we can work together, we’ll discuss our next steps. If you need a little more time to decide, that’s perfectly fine too. Sometimes therapy with me may not be the right way forward, and if that’s the case, I can guide you toward other sources of support.

There is no obligation to continue after this first session, and you are always free to end therapy at any point.

You can view my full Psychotherapy and Counselling Agreement here:  https://www.angharadthomas.co.uk/in-person-therapy-counselling-contract

What to expect

Psychotherapy and counselling is very often called a 'talking therapy' because it gives you the opportunity to talk about what is troubling you.  In each session you will have the space to talk about, and explore, the issues or concerns that matter most to you within a safe and supportive relationship with a trained professional. Through this process you will make new connections and gain new insights into your past and present experience, which will assist you to develop the inner resources you need to be better able to manage difficult experiences and to move forward.

During sessions, I will help you to talk about your feelings, behaviours, thoughts, memories, beliefs, assumptions and body sensations associated with what is troubling you.   We might also look at your relationship with yourself, your relationships with others—both past and present—and the relationship we develop in therapy.  This can help you to see your difficulties in a new light and put into practice healthier ways of being.  Though I would encourage you to talk about things that feel challenging to speak about, I will never force or pressure you to speak about things you do not wish to discuss and we will always go at a pace that feels comfortable for you.  For those who find it especially hard to talk or express their feelings and find 'talking therapies' sometimes too challenging, I can suggest creative activities we can do together through which you can explore your situation and express your feelings, which may feel more comfortable for you.   

Whilst I won’t give advice, tell you what to do, or make a diagnosis, I will provide a space for you to talk, listen carefully to what you share, and try to understand your experience as deeply as I can.  I may ask questions to help you consider things from a different angle or see things from a new perspective.  I understand from experience that this process might feel difficult or strange at first, and it’s my role as your therapist to support you through this.  In sessions,  you might find yourself crying, feeling upset or getting  angry.  This can feel unsettling and intense, however, you won't be alone.  I see these feelings as an important part of our work together and will welcome all aspects of your experience, helping you process and manage any emotions that arise.

You can read more about what therapy is like with me here:  https://www.angharadthomas.co.uk/what-is-therapy-like

How many session will I need?

This depends entirely on your situation, the difficulties you are encountering and your personal preference. Therapy does not always offer an immediate solution to long standing and often painful problems. Some issues are better suited to short-term therapy and some to longer-term therapy. There is no upper limit to the number of sessions you can have, and you may continue in therapy for as long as you find it beneficial.

Generally speaking, if you want to focus on one specific issue, or seek to explore a particular area of your life more deeply, short-term therapy might be appropriate. Working this way we would concentrate on understanding the particular problem at hand, exploring its roots and how it impacts you. Through our work together, we’ll aim to bring clarity and insight to the issue, helping you navigate it with greater awareness and understanding in your day-to-day life.  Additionally, we can also work on identifying and making the most of your existing strengths and resources, enabling you to handle the challenges you face in new and more effective ways.

For more complex issues, such as ingrained personality traits, behavioural patterns, experiences of abuse and neglect, or for supporting ongoing personal growth, open-ended, exploratory long-term therapy with no defined endpoint may be more effective. Working this way allows trust to be built gradually over time and provides a consistent and reliable space for you to explore and resolve more deeply seated emotional difficulties.  It also offers the time needed to develop a deeper understanding and acceptance of yourself, leading to positive and lasting change.

Ultimately, the number of sessions you have is entirely up to you, and you may already have ideas about what you’ll find most helpful - we can discuss this when we meet.

Whilst the list above provides examples of areas in which I can help, I do not believe that the feelings and challenges we face fit neatly into discrete categories. Instead, I recognise each person’s experience as unique, with different aspects of our lives deeply interconnected, often in unexpected ways.

Therapy is not just about addressing isolated issues; it’s about understanding you as a whole person.  It is the therapeutic relationship we build together that will serve as the foundation for exploring and working through the complexities of your experience, allowing for meaningful and lasting change - if that is important to you.  

As a UKCP-registered psychotherapist I am trained to work with a wide range of issues, so please feel free to contact me even if your concern isn’t listed above.

Concessionary places may be available depending on your circumstances - please ask.

I work from offices in Conwy and Betws yn Rhos, just a 10-minute drive from Colwyn Bay and Abergele, which offer a peaceful, comfortable and discreet place to meet.  

To learn more about therapy and how I work please visit my website www.angharadthomas.co.uk