Audrey Brennan

Verified Professional task_alt Verified Professional
Verified Professional

Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.

Pronoun: she
Online Accredited Counsellor, Supervisor, EMDR Practitioner
No current availability
No current availability

This professional is currently not accepting new clients and may not respond to general enquiries at this time.

location_on Ashford, Kent, TN27
No current availability
No current availability

This professional is currently not accepting new clients and may not respond to general enquiries at this time.

About me

Looking for a therapist can be disconcerting. By definition, you are unlikely to feel at your strongest. Searching for someone to talk to about potentially sensitive difficulties may increase a sense of vulnerability. You've probably got an idea of the sort of person that you need to speak with. Good matching is essential, a feeling that you can trust  your therapist to be compassionate, appropriately qualified and experienced but also offers potential insight, without judgement, whilst sensitively working within diversity.

You are the expert on you; my aim is to listen to you, then use my skills to help you recover from or manage whatever emotional pain you are in. I bring my theoretical knowledge and experience and we seek to work together to achieve emotional well being. I offer short or longer term therapy, depending upon your needs, and am currently working on line. If I can help you, I will with pleasure; if I am unable to, I will be honest with you and suggest other avenues.

Email me for further info.

Training, qualifications & experience

People fascinate me and this fascination led me to study Psychology at University. I realised then that I wanted to become a therapist and my experience began in 2004 when I qualified as a Counsellor. I began working in the NHS as a Primary Care Counsellor. In 2006, I joined an NHS Trust and became a Senior Counsellor, then a Specialist Counsellor within the Psychological Therapies Service. In 2013, I Ieft the Trust to work within Insight Healthcare (a not for profit organisation which treated NHS patients within their IAPT Service). I then managed the Kent Counselling Team from 2017 until December 2019. During Covid, I worked with the Refugee Council in the London Therapeutic Men's Project on a voluntary basis. Now, I work for a specialist Trauma Intervention Service and have a small Private Practice and continue to feel privileged to do this work.

In 2012 I undertook additional training in EMDR. This is a specialist Trauma therapy approved by NICE and the World Health Organisation for the treatment of PTSD. I have used this therapy to treat severe Trauma such as those experienced in the Armed Forces, the Fire, Police, Ambulance and Prison Services as well as those involved in accidents and disasters. I have also successfully treated victims of rape and abuse, birth trauma and near death experiences. The protocol has also reduced distress for those who have been plagued by disturbing images of loved ones dying. I believe that it is a remarkable and effective treatment and I wish I had trained in it sooner. Generally speaking, this treatment can help individuals recover from trauma far quicker than talking therapies alone.

For further information on this therapy, check out the EMDR Association website.

In 2013, I completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling Supervision. My supervision career began in  the NHS where I  supervised a diverse group of Counsellors ranging from trainees to experienced practitioners. It's a pleasure to support the work of others and to observe and foster professional development and growth. I now supervise the work of Police Welfare Officers along with that of Psychotherapists and Counsellors in a local Community Counselling Service.

Prior to joining the NHS Trust, I was also a Counsellor within an agency that worked in partnership with Kent Probation. My role was to counsel offenders, helping them address wide ranging issues from relationship problems and depression to trauma and abuse. In the early stages of my career, I worked in residential social work with severely abused children delivering therapeutic interventions to help them prepare for foster care. Later, I moved to working with young offenders, supporting them whilst they moved through the court process.

Loss, relationship problems, depression and anxiety come to us all and I'm equally happy to work with these human experiences as some of the more traumatic ones outlined above.

Qualifications:

BA (Hons) Psychology

Dip Couns MBACP Accred

Pg Dip Counselling Supervision

EMDR UK Accredited Practitioner

Member organisations

school Registered / Accredited

Registered / Accredited

Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.

BACP
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP)

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.

EMDR Europe
EMDR Europe

EMDR Europe

Accredited register membership

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
Accredited Register Scheme

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.

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

Areas of counselling I deal with

Therapies offered

Fees

£45.00 - £65.00

Concessions offered for

  • check_circle Low income
  • check_circle Keyworkers
  • check_circle OAPs
  • check_circle Students
  • check_circle Trainee counsellors
  • check_circle Unemployed

Additional information

My fees are £45 an hour for Counselling and £65 an hour for EMDR. EMDR is more expensive as the training is specialist and expensive, as is the accompanying supervision which supports my practice. Counselling supervision costs £55 an hour.

If you are experiencing hardship, concessions may be negotiated.

Type of session

Online
Phone

Types of client

Young people (13-17)
Adults (25-64)
Older Adults (65+)

Online platforms

Zoom

Supervision

In person
Online
Phone

Supervision is an essential part of safe, ethical practice.

View supervision profile

Audrey Brennan
Audrey Brennan