Charley Venables-Bland, BACP Accredited

About me

*** During the Coronavirus outbreak I am working exclusively online using Zoom. I can also offer telephone counselling as well. Please let me know if you need any further information.***

Welcome...

You may be feeling overwhelmed, stuck, feeling depressed or anxious or perhaps you just know you don't feel okay or how you have done in the past. Life may feel difficult, and your abilities to cope may be exhausted.

How can I help?

I work to develop a place of safety within the therapeutic relationship because we can only feel safe to explore difficulties when we feel respected and held by someone else. We can explore all of the issues that are around for you. We can work in a brief and focused way with the aim of bringing about change in a few areas quickly. Or we can work longer term and explore more about what brought you to this point and look at how you can feel better.

My approach
I follow a Humanistic and Integrative model, with a focus on the relationship meaning that I follow your lead as a client and join you on your journey as you explore your world with the sessions. I believe that we all started life as a blank canvas and it is our experiences that have usually caused our current distress. I draw on various theoretical models in order to assist you in understanding your thoughts and emotions more. I aim to build trust between us and develop the relationship between us so that you feel safe to explore your world alongside me.

Where appropriate I also use mindfulness and meditation, creative materials and body awareness.

What next?
After an initial chat, usually over the phone, you may choose to book an initial session with me where we would meet for an hour. This is a mutual assessment and allows me to determine if I have the right skills and experience to meet your needs and for you to decide if you would like to work with me. At the end of this session we can make a plan for where we would like to go next.

Specialist areas
I have a specialist interest in working with issues around body image and disordered eating. I believe that health comes in all different body shapes and sizes. I advocate that it's vitally important that for good mental health that we learn to respect and engage positively with our bodies.

I have an interest in working with people who have experienced trauma, and this can include lots of difficulties that we face in life. It can be described as an experience or a string of experiences that have exceeded our ability to cope and so we have had to adapt.

I also have a passion and experience with working with people who identify as having alternative genders and sexualities. I work from the perspective that you are the expert in your life and that my role is to support you to live your life in the fullest and richest way possible for you.

I offer relationship counselling and of course there are many different types of relationship. This could include familial relationships, marriages, civil partnerships, couples, romantic relationships with more than two people, non-monogamous relationships, poly-amorous relationships.

Training, qualifications & experience

My training at the well-renowned Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute (SPTI) in Nottingham led me to gain BSc (Hons) Counselling and Psychotherapy, qualifying in 2012. This training over three years was intensive, rigorous and comprehensive and it went beyond most shorter counselling courses in terms of preparing me to support my clients fully. Having been on my own personal therapeutic journey I understand what it can feel like to seek therapy and to open up to another person.

I have experience working in private practice, in several charities and organisations across the Leicestershire area and with clients referred through workplace Employee Assistance Programmes.

In private practice I have experience of working both on a long term, open-ended basis and with short term and focused work.

I am also an Accredited and Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

Continuing professional development is key to ensure that I am personally and professionally developing and some of the topics I have covered since my training are as follows:

- Principles of relationally focused work
- Ethically minded practice
- Disability awareness
- Working with issues surrounding rape and sexual abuse
- Mindfulness
- Attunement
- Dissociation and the effects of trauma
- Body positivity, body acceptance, body image
- Working with couples and relationships
- Working with children and young people

I am currently engaged in a 4 year programme of deeper learning around Integrative and Relationally Focused psychotherapy which can lead to accreditation with the International Integrative Psychotherapy Association (IIPA)

I also attend regular clinical supervision to ensure that I practising ethically and in the interests of my clients.

Member organisations

Registered / Accredited

Accredited register membership

Areas of counselling I deal with

Other areas of counselling I deal with

Parenting
Low mood
Feelings of sadness
Feelings of worthlessness
Body image
Disordered eating

Therapies offered

Couples counselling
Existential therapy
Gestalt therapy
Humanistic therapies
Integrative
Interpersonal therapy
Mindfulness
Person-centred therapy
Solution focused brief therapy
Transactional analysis

Photos & videos

Fees

For individual work, the initial assessment session will be 1 hour and I charge £50 for this appointment.

If you decide that you would like to work with me individually, all subsequent sessions are 50 minutes. The fee for each of these is £50.

I offer a limited number of lower cost counselling places at between £30-£50 per 50 minute session. As these are limited, I ask that you suggest the fee that most closely matches your individual circumstances.

For couples or relationship counselling, I charge £60 per 60 minute session.

I may be able offer a discount to counselling students - please contact me to discuss this further.

In person
Online
Phone
Home visits

Sign language	Unspecified
Other languages	None

Accessibility

Wheelchair user access

Wheelchair-accessible premises should have step-free access for wheelchair users and individuals who are unable to climb stairs. If a counsellor's premises aren't step-free, they may offer alternative services such as telephone/web-based appointments, home visits, or meeting clients in different location, so you can choose the option that suits you best.

You can contact the counsellor to discuss the options available.

Under the Equality Act 2010 service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that individuals with disabilities can access their service. You can read more about reasonable adjustments to help you to access services on the CAB website.

Wheelchair user access

Narborough - The front door of my premises is a UPVC so involves a small step but once inside, there are no steps. There is a small toilet next door to the counselling space. Thurmaston - I work upstairs and the stairs are relatively steep.