Antonia Gerlach-Charlton
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This professional is temporarily unavailable and will not be responding to enquiries until they return.
This professional is temporarily unavailable and will not be responding to enquiries until they return.
About me
When you take that step and reach out, I will meet you with a space where there won't be any prizes, but there won't be any failures either. Within the firm boundaries of our therapeutic relationship you can take a breath and pause before figuring out how to move forward.
Is this you?
Your mind is ready to keep fighting; there isn't anyone that you cannot outthink or outtalk, and that includes yourself. But your body is telling a different story.
- The Pillar: The person supporting everyone, preventing the collapse of the relationship, family, or other system. You feel like you are going to be crushed if you let go, but on your own, you lose purpose.
- The Glue: Holding everyone and everything together. You feel overstretched and have lost your own shape and form.
- The Heroine or Hero: Operating where even perceived weakness makes you a target. Your life is a series of never-ending battles. You feel the chronic, low-level terror of being fatally injured and becoming useless.
- The Smiling Mask: Hiding loneliness under a veneer of envied success and perfectionism. You feel like crying, really, but that would only provoke disdain and ridicule.
- The Vault: Suppressing emotions out of fear of being "too much" or hurting others. You feel constantly tense from keeping your emotions in check.
- The Dried-up Well: Too depleted to identify your own needs or desires. You have nothing to give because you have been cut off from the sources that feed you. Yet, everyone still comes to you to replenish themselves.
Consequently, you might feel lost, with very little energy to live. You might feel anxious, depressed, angry, or resentful. You might want to argue a lot—or the exact opposite, retreat from relationships. You might struggle to make decisions or even take care of yourself. You might tell yourself to stop whining and get a grip.
Let’s look at what you are carrying, what you would like to hold on to, let go of, or pick up instead.
Potential Outcomes
Over time, you might feel lighter, calmer, connected, and energised. Your emotions will feel manageable rather than overwhelming. You might find it easier to:
- Decide clearly: Use your emotions to determine what you realistically can or cannot do.
- Speak up: Express your boundaries and state exactly what you need.
- Transform conflict: Shift friction from an acute threat into a tool for mutual understanding.
How I Work
I combine traditional talk therapy with creative methods, breathwork, and somatic practices like mindful movement. Guided breathwork can help manage immediate anxiety, while mindful movement encourages physical reconnection. This builds emotional capacity and facilitates self-expression when words are simply not enough.
In every session, we adapt directly to your present situation, creating a safe framework where you can: unpack • sort • remember • honour • mourn • discover • pause • reflect • develop • connect • imagine • integrate • discard • experiment.
Work with Me
If this resonates with you, contact me for an initial free conversation or book an introductory call. You don’t have to be alone in this.
If this doesn’t resonate with you but you are still reading, there is something you cannot quite put your finger on. Let’s find out what it is together.
Training, qualifications & experience
DipHE Gestalt Counselling
MA SEND
I am an experienced Gestalt counsellor. Gestalt counselling is a holistic approach, which means that the counsellor understands a person as a whole including the relationship between them and their world. Gestalt counsellors focus on the here and now, examining current thoughts, behaviour and feelings in order to help a client gain awareness of how they relate to events and people. This awareness is crucial in bringing about change. Most important to this approach is the relationship between client and counsellor.
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
Expat Counselling
Counselling for spouses supporting highly stressed partners focusing on their careers.
Counselling for parents to neurodivergent children who might be navigating their own late diagnosis.
Therapies offered
Fees
£60.00 per session
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
There is no charge for an initial phone conversation, which gives you the opportunity to ask any questions. Subsequent sessions are charged at a rate of £60 per 50 minute session.
Further information
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and I am bound by its Ethical Framework. My work is supervised by a senior practitioner.