Anita Gaisford

Hello and thanks for visiting my profile. My name is Anita and I am an experienced and qualified counsellor.  I am based in Canterbury but I also work remotely via zoom/phone across Kent, London and the South East. I work with age 18+ and my experience as a counsellor has been within colleges, school settings, workplaces, hospitals/inpatient units and my private practice.

In addition to private practice, I also work as a specialist eating disorder therapist with the NHS as part of the All Age Eating Disorder Service in Kent & Medway.  Prior to this, I worked as part of an eating disorder team within an inpatient unit at the Nightingale Hospital in Marylebone, London.

My specialism is in working with eating disorders/disordered eating and nutrition and I have studied at Advanced Diploma level, gaining a Master Practitioner Advanced Diploma through the National Centre for Eating Disorders (NCfED) who are accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and have recently undertaken training in Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).

I also provide support for Carers who are supporting a loved with an eating disorder and will be offering further workshops in the Autumn to help Carers navigate and understand ED's.  Further information will be on my website shortly.

Additionally, I have recently undertaken supervision training so can provide clinical supervision.

My aim is to provide a safe, friendly, confidential, warm, caring and non-judgmental space and to provide the right support to suit your needs and to assist you through your specific problems. I like to bring creativity to the counselling room along with my passion for the work that I do.

As an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP), I am bound by BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy. I am a registrant on the BACP Register of Counsellors and Psychotherapists and am also part of the BEAT network and New Maudsley Carers - Kent.

As a practicing counsellor I have regular supervision and undertake CPD. I have a current Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced Certificate, hold professional insurance and am GDPR compliant.

How can counselling help?

Counselling sessions will give you the opportunity to talk about issues and problems you are facing and help you have a better understanding of yourself and make changes where you choose to. Sometimes, it is not easy to discuss issues with family or friends so my aim is to provide an environment where you feel safe to share your issues or problems and make sense of your thoughts or feelings.

What to expect in your first session:

Finding the right counsellor for you is really important and I therefore offer an initial consultation to allow you the opportunity to decide if I am someone that you want to work with and for me to decide if I am the best person to help you. You can then decide if you wish to have further sessions and we will agree the focus for our work and arrange a regular time to meet for sessions.

I offer both short term, long term and open-ended sessions, weekly or fortnightly, depending upon your needs. 

Areas of experience:

I have undertaken additional Advanced Diploma level training through the National Centre for Eating Disorders (NCfED) to work with eating disorders/disordered eating in addition to nutritional intervention. Some of the issues I have experience of working with are:

• Abuse
• Anger
• Anxiety/Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• Bereavement and Grief
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
• Bullying
• Child related issues
• Depression
• Eating Disorders and body image (Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge-eating disorder, compulsive and emotional eating, FED-NEC
• Family issues
• Fears and worries
• General counselling
• Low self-confidence or low self-esteem
• Obsessions
• OCD
• Panic Disorder/Panic Attacks
• Relationships/Relationship Issues
• Self-harm
• Sexual identity/Transgender issues
• Shame
• Sleep disorders/Insomnia
• Stress
• Suicidal thoughts
• Trauma
• Work related stress

Orthorexia

Emotional Eating

Obesity

ARFID

General counselling:

• Initial 20 minute introductory call: Free of charge
• 50 minute appointment weekdays: £65.00

Eating disorder/disordered eating counselling: Prices on request

Carers support for eating disorders: Prices on request

I offer individual sessions remotely via zoom/MS Teams/phone.