Annika Giles

 I am Annika, experienced counsellor/therapist helping both individuals and couples to enjoy their lives again, manage stress, anxiety and improve their wellness. Available for mother/daughter counselling as well.

What is counselling about and how can it help you?

• Do you begin your day feeling anxious, low and lack of motivation, wondering your life is not going where you want to be? Do you know where you want to be? Have you started feeling more anxious on Sunday evenings?

I have experienced both with my clients and myself, that counselling gives you more than an understanding where your anxiety and low mood might be coming from so that you feel more confident in coping with your daily life. It gives you a place to properly, confidentially discuss your daily life, your past, your dreams so that you feel listened to. It does gives you tools to manage your anxiety.

• Maybe you wake up during the night worrying and stressed about the day ahead? You wonder if there is a way out of this, can you change the pattern that have brought you to this point, how can you recover?

I work a lot with stress and burnout, as well as anxiety issues. I can help you to identify your stress factors and worries better so that you are able to find daily enjoyments and improve your sleep. It gives you ways of breaking the behavior patterns and build new ones. 

• Are you wondering why you feel so lost and lonely, not fitting in whether it is your relationship with your partner, family members, friends or even colleagues at work.
• Your self-esteem might be rock bottom,  you might have lost your sense of who you are, what you need and what you enjoy. You are expected to be social but dread late nights and days out as you don' t know if you start to feel anxious or how long it will take you to recover.

Counselling builds up your self confidence to enable you to be kinder to yourself when you make a mistake or when life throws another challenge. 

Counselling supports you to manage your social anxiety so that you feel more confident in reaching out when you feel isolated or lonely. It helps you to recognize your own limits as being with people in social settings can be exhausting when you are not well.

• Maybe you are a COUPLE feeling increasingly unhappy, fed up and tired with constant arguing or not talking about things?
• You are worried how the same old issues just keep coming back, and the spark is disappearing. 
• You are worried about the future of your relationship. Maybe you are having an affair, or dealing with an affair in your relationship.

Couples and mother/daughter counselling is more solution driven approach. You will both tell me what is going on, and we work together to get you where you want to be in your relationship. 

It is about helping you to reduce arguing, learn to communicate better, to start to listen each other. I work with you for you to have a loving, understanding relationship back.

It is not to find out whom to blame, but help you to understand own and each other's needs and what is happening in your relationship better.

I do work with couples who have decided to separate and need support in dealing with the change.

I hope to be the right counsellor for you and show you how counselling can change how you feel right now.

Why work with me?

Like many of my clients, my own life has had its ups and downs. These experiences have shaped me to become the counsellor I am today. And I am constantly learning.

Before qualifying as a counsellor, I worked in a senior position in sales management.  Working in a male oriented environment has helped me to understand how difficult it can be to ask for help, particularly for men.  

However, burnout and anxiety led me to therapy and ultimately to a career in helping people with similar challenges.

I have experienced how challenging and troubling it can feel to cope just with daily tasks . I know how it all can impact on our ability to cope and see a way out. It really was not an easy step to start counselling either for me. 

 I am dedicated giving you ways of coping better whatever life throws at you so that you can move forward and see positivity with your life again. I have seen the change in my clients and experienced it myself too, so I know it is possible.

My approach is to be able to give you tools and coping mechanisms to use between sessions.  

 I would like to invite you to book a short phone call with me to find out more what is counselling and if it could help you. 
You can learn about me as a counsellor and if you feel you can talk to me openly. There is no obligation to book any further sessions after the call, neither is there a set number of sessions I would ask you to have. 

Our relationship is important part of counselling. It is about you feeling comfortable and safe with me as a start. It is not a friendship as I get to know you but you will not know a lot about my life. That can feel strange, I get that.

I do not judge, neither do I give you advice. But I do support you to reflect, and I gently but firmly challenge your beliefs and thoughts.

Sessions are not clinical, "you talk, I just listen" sessions, but a safe, confidential place for you to be unapologetically you. There can be tears but there can be laughter too. We can get creative, work on breathing techniques, mindfulness and when weather allows go outdoors too. 

I offer short term or long-term sessions. One single session might be enough.

You can also find me on Instagram: Attentive_Counselling_UK or Facebook: Attentive Counselling UK.

My website will have more information how I work with different issues. Look at the blogs.

Multicultural issues including integrating into new cultures, feelings of rootlessness and culture shock

Workplace issues including stress, bullying, interpersonal issues, culture related issues

15-20min free initial session (telephone )

Couples sessions GBP 70/60min session

Individual sessions GBP 50 /50min session 

Walk and talk (Beverley, Pocklington, Market Weighton) GBP 50/60min session.

Currently offering face to face, online (Zoom) and telephone counselling sessions. 

Walk and talk sessions - please contact for further information

Both daytime and evening sessions available.