About me
Hi. My name is Brian and I'm a qualified integrative counsellor. That simply means I am trained to use a number of counselling approaches. I work with adults, and children and young people aged eleven and over.
Prior to undertaking my professional training, I worked for over thirty years for the SHSCT within adult day care services with people with cognitive and physical disabilities.
Please read on to see how I believe counselling can help if either you yourself or someone you care about is currently struggling with what appear to be insurmountable problems.
Do you ever ask yourself, 'What's wrong with me, why am I feeling like this?', or does your head ever feel like its going to explode, not because you have a headache but because of intrusive thoughts that keep going round and round inside your head and just won't stop?
Perhaps you fear certain situations, places or people and avoid these altogether or only dare to face them, with strong support from partners, close friends or family?
I can tell you that you are not on your own and I have worked with many people who can identify with such scenarios.
We are all conditioned throughout our lifetime, buffeted by life experiences current and past. Many of these are painful and can cause any one of us to face challenges to our mental health. Some examples might be relationship conflicts, bereavement, loss of employment, living with a disability - ourselves/our family, experiencing trauma in our life such as assault or abuse, surviving a near death experience. There are numerous others.
If our problems become overwhelming, we can begin to develop anxiety, stress, depression, low self-esteem, uncontrolled anger and because these are interlinked, it's also not uncommon to be impacted by more than one, for example feeling depressed while also feeling very anxious most or all of the time.
As a result, we can begin to adopt damaging coping strategies, addictions, perhaps drinking heavily or taking drugs, engaging in self-harming, or we may begin to use safety behaviours, such as the one we have already mentioned, avoiding the people, places and things that make us feel uncomfortable or frightened.
Many of us try hard to battle our problems alone and we may even try to trivialise them, but attempting to manage trauma or severe psychological distress on our own can be really difficult.
Some of what you've just read may help you to begin to understand why you are feeling the way you do and how you have now come to find yourself reading about counselling.
Lets take a look at some of the kinds of issues that I think I can help you with:
- Stress/Anxiety/Depression/Low self-esteem/Anger or rage, (remember, you can have more than one at the same time).
- Complex trauma including childhood sexual abuse / physical abuse including domestic abuse / coercive control / psychological abuse.
- Self-harm including cutting / burning / addictions / risk behaviours / eating disorders / self-neglect.
- Neurodiversity - Autism / ADHD / Learning disability / OCD / Tourette's syndrome / Epilepsy.
- Bullying at school /at work / in relationships.
- Grief, bereavement and loss including impending bereavement.
- Acceptance of a terminal illness diagnosis - your's / a loved one's.
- Anger management.
- Relationship problems including - family relationships / partner / peers.
- Sexual identity issues including gay / bi / trans.
- Suicidal thoughts, (ideation).
- Developing self awareness / assertiveness skills / boundaries / self care.
- Having worked for many years within social services, I have built up extensive experience working with neuro-diversity: learning disability / autism / ADHD / OCD / brain injury / as well as people with a physical disability.
By working together as a team, in a safe and confidential space that is free from judgment, we will work hard to reduce excessive stress, anxiety or depression. When your counselling ends, you will leave taking with you the skills, strategies and knowledge, a tool box of sorts, that will help you to look after your mental health in the future.
I have written a number of articles that look at issues such as;
- The impact of severe trauma in our lives and how traumatic memories become stuck in our unconscious mind creating frightening flashbacks and terrifying nightmares.
- Anxiety, what is this, what causes it, how do I recognize it, and what can I do to manage it?
- School life and problems young people may experience such as bullying.
- Coping with bereavement and loss in our lives.
- How do other cultures, likely very different to our own, cope with their grief.
- If any of these articles interest you, why not access them by scrolling down to the articles section below.
Finally, if you have any questions, please get in touch using the phone number below. Leave a short message if I'm unable to answer, or you can send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Counselling Tip: Take care of yourself and today do something special; just for you!
Thank you for checking out my counselling profile.
Kind Regards -
Brian Watters - Integrative Counsellor.
BPW Counselling: Ph - 077 688 75 682
(Phone line monitored - Mon - Fri - 9:00.am - 6:00.pm).
Training, qualifications & experience
FdSc Integrative Counselling - University of Ulster (Accredited by BACP).
Level 5 Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People (CYP - L5).
NCPS Certificate in Complex Trauma and Childhood Sexual Abuse.
Level 4 Certificate in Counselling Skills - University of Ulster
Cruse Bereavement Support - Foundation Training.
Cruse Bereavement Support - Help-line Foundation Training.
ASIST trained, (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training).
I have previously worked for CRUSE Bereavement Suport as a bereavement support volenteer, (face-to-face support), and as a helpline volenteer working on the CRUSE national help-line.
As a qualified integrative counsellor, I use a number of counselling theories to help my clients, namely CBT, (cognitive behavioural therapy), person-centred, and psychodynamic counselling. I am qualified to provide counselling to adults and CYP, (Children & young people aged 11 and over).
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
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£45.00 - £55.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I can offer counselling appointments in Poyntzpass - £45, or in either Banbridge, 54 Bridge St, or in Ballybot House, 28 Cornmarket Newry - £55. (The higher fee is due to office rental fees).
Students/retired/people seeking employment - £40 discounted fee. (Poyntzpass office only).
Online counselling fee £35
Flexible appointments for example, in the evening or at the weekend, (Saturday only), can be requested.
When I work
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Further information
My counselling room is on the ground floor but there are three steps to navigate from street level. If you are disabled, I can offer telephone or online counselling options, or if you live within a ten-mile radius, I can travel to your home address if you have a private area where counselling can take place. Please phone my office number; 077 688 75 682, if this is something that you might be interested in.
Finally, our counselling office is situated in a private driveway, and has available parking .
Counselling sessions last approximately an hour.
