About me
Welcome to my profile, I work as a Qualified Person-Centred Counsellor and Cognitive Behaviour Therapist (CBT), offering counselling services for adults and children.
Counselling or talking therapy can be a great benefit to anyone who feels overwhelmed emotionally, or is struggling to cope or come to terms with many life issues. CBT is solution focused and can help with many mental health challenges and can help us to become more aware of our ingrained habits, beliefs and patterns of thinking and behaviour which might be stopping our growth and development.
My approach to counselling is guided by my clients needs and is uniquely tailored according to the specific support you want. I work using all of my life skills & techniques from every discipline I have trained in. This works to provide the support and skills my clients need to ensure the long term change they desire.
A teacher once said to me, "Counselling is the biggest gift you can give to yourself!"
I offer a professional, yet warm, intuitive approach to my work. I am based in a Central Southport office. I work in person (face to face) and for extra flexibility, I can offer sessions via Zoom, face time and telephone.
I have extensive experience in Bereavement, Grief and Loss, heartbreak, family breakdown (separation & divorce, betrayal and affairs). Whole person fertility counselling. Experienced in working with body image, self identity, weight loss/weight gain and our relationship to food/eating. Childhood trauma and abuse. Supporting adaptation to major life changes (Disability, illness, menarche, pregnancy & menopause, mid-life crisis - not exclusive).
I work with people of all genders, cultures, ages and neurodiversities, to improve communication, confidence, self-esteem and assertiveness.
I work with adults, children, singles, families, couples and non-traditional relationships.
Attachment Disorders /issues and personal development of Attachment styles including fear of rejection abandonment, and imposter syndrome.
Neurological Diversity; ADHD, ASD, AuDHD (duality of Autism and ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia etc. I work with people with generalised anxiety disorder, anxiety & panic attacks, depression and various family issues.
I believe that when working with an individual, it is important to appreciate that we are each complex and unique, not only emotionally, but physically, mentally and spiritually. These connections are acknowledged and included in my approach to working with a person as a whole being.
Each individual is inherently valuable to me, no matter the presentation of issues you may have.
Training, qualifications & experience
Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)- Level- 5
Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling - Level 4 - Person-Centred Therapist. MBACP
BSc Hons in Herbal Medicine (Phytotherapy) - First Class Degree
Specialism in Bereavement, Grief and loss
Premature unexpected deaths, loss of a child, miscarriage, long term illness, suicide, complicated grief disorder, violent death, abortion loss. Liverpool Bereavement Service, Oakleaf children's services.
Children's bereavement and loss.
Counselling children and young people - trained at place 2 be.
Trained in whole person fertility counselling - Degree thesis on fertility issues using holistic therapy and counselling to support fertility in couples experiencing difficulty with conception.
Creator of online course - Healing from Heartbreak - a comprehensive online programme, dedicated to individuals who are experiencing loss and pain from relationship breakdown. A fully immersive experience, each step designed to help you to become aware of self, gain back your personal power to fully heal from grief and loss. Importantly how to make your heartbreak count, and not to repeat the same relationship patterns.
Independent weight-loss consultant 2011-2018.
Worked at Liverpool Bereavement Service for adults & Oakleaf children's service for bereavement and loss.
Worked at Place 2 Be as a children's counsellor in schools.
11 years of experience as a senior case worker for social services with adults with sensory impairment and disability. Children's disability care worker. Dementia and Alzheimer's care.
Manager of Resource Centre in a culturally diverse London Borough for Adult Disabilities & sensory impairment (deaf/blind) and HIV/Aids team.
Advocacy work for those without voices, supporting individuals to maintain independence and joy of life through personal fulfilment. Post-accident, brain injury, stroke, cancer, other life long disabilities, and coming to terms with the loss of former life.
Diploma in Soul Centred Therapy - guided Meditation Teacher running 3 classes a week - 10 years.
ADHD and other Neurodevelopmental Disorders, awareness and therapeutic considerations training (A diagnosed 'neurospicy' therapist).
Working with Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse.
Safeguarding children x3.
Safeguarding in a learning environment.
Prevent Training.
Loss and Bereavement training.
Creative and Therapeutic play therapy - Directive & Client-led.
Working with Difference and Diversity.
GDPR Training.
Helping Children tell their stories.
Training in attachment styles and relationships impact.
Integrating 'Spirituality in Practice', how the ego/personality structure affects our growth and development 2007 - 2026 - Updated training in spirituality counselling every year.
Access Consciousness - Access Bars Practitioner.
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I have extensive knowledge and experience of dealing with death and loss.
Family endings, separation, relationship heartbreak and loss.
How to recover positively and heal from relationship endings. How to successfully move on without losing your mind.
Experienced in working with Narcissism and the resulting mental, emotional and often physical (sickness and illness it brings) trauma.
Working with blended families and bonus children, how to navigate complex family dynamics.
I am experienced in helping people who want to experience Radical Personality Shifts, through dynamic counselling working on thoughts, beliefs, identity and behaviour.
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Sessions are charged at a rate of £50 per therapeutic hour for adults (50 mins).
Concessions for service personnel, students and student counsellors, and low income £45 per therapeutic hour.
Children and young people up to 16 years of age £40.
When I work
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Further information
My ongoing personal passion is studying the diversity & differences in our brains.
Each person is specifically unique and perceives the world according to their upbringing and brain development. We are genetically and hormonally wired according to primary hormones (oestrogens, progesterone, testosterone).
This affects not only our gender and brain development, but how we process the world and how we communicate and interact with others.
Men and women process using different parts of their brains and mis-communication & interpretation of peoples motives can hinder our understanding and communication with others. i can help you to understand and learn to communicate better with your loved ones, through my own personal understanding of current neuropsychology research.
Our early Attachments to our care givers also impacts the nature and type of adult relationships we have.
I have experience of working with both men and women from abusive or traumatic childhoods and historical sexual abuse; how this affects our subsequent intimate relationships and our sense of self and body image. Professional support can help to improve our future by supporting this healing and resolution, regaining our sense of empowerment and pleasure in life.
I have experience in working with anxiety states and depression resulting from major life changes.
Separation and Divorce, family breakdowns, moving home, school, children leaving home, redundancy or job losses, the loss of an attachment figure a partner or a beloved pet, health changes, loss of physical or mental ability are all types of losses that can affect our self-identity, who we are and how we show up in the world. They can have dramatic effects on our personality and our relationships with others and it is an important aspect to look at when we experience these life changes, heartbreak and sadness.
My life goal is to bring awareness and acceptance of self, to unlock the potential we all have inside, to experience life to its fullest in your own capacity to do so.
I look forward to working with you.
Annalisa Gabriel 2024
