About me
Counselling for couples and individual clients.
You may be facing new challenges and concerns, or be struggling with pre-existing issues, that feel too difficult to tackle on your own. Counselling can help you to face, explore and understand such difficulties and make constructive changes that will help you move forwards. Whether the relationship is with yourself, your partner or others, relational problems are usually at the heart of mental health struggles and distress. I can help you to explore these individually or as a couple. I provide a warm, safe and private space for face to face counselling. I can also provide online counselling.
How Counselling Can Help
You may have reached a point where you find that dealing with certain difficulties or areas of your life feels too much to tackle on your own. You may have specific issues you want to address, or it may be that you are experiencing a more generalised sense of dissatisfaction. I can explore such areas with you in order to provide a clearer understanding of your situation, and to make changes that will help you move forwards with your life in a more constuctive and satisfying way.
How I Work
My aim is to work with you on the difficulties you feel are the most pressing. My approach is relational and collaborative. I will work with you to help you understand yourself better, draw on your strengths and address your difficulties in a manageable and constructive way. Where relevant, I will suggest practical strategies or resources that may assist with this and contribute towards your wellbeing.
With relational difficulties I also draw on my experience as a restorative practitioner, the underlying theme of which is to help people develop the skills to build, maintain and repair relationships, whether this is with yourself or with others.
My Background
I have a diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and am a registered member of The British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists, (BACP).This means that I abide by its code of ethics and commit to regular continuing professional development.
I have also completed advanced training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, (ACT); a form of mindfulness-based cognitive behavioural therapy.
I am qualified to work with couples. My training was with Interaction Training- Working With Couples, which is endorsed by The College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists.
As well as my own private practice, I have worked as counsellor with Cardiff Mind and as an associate counsellor with Cardiff University Staff Counselling Service, and as a volunteer counsellor with victims of domestic abuse in The Vale of Glamorgan. Currently, I am working at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as a specialist mental health mentor, supporting students in managing College life and preparing for a career in the performing arts.
Before training as a counsellor I taught in secondary educational settings. I went on to train as a restorative practitioner, dealing with relational issues and conflicts in secondary schools, the workplace and prisons. I work as an associate with Wales Restorative Approaches Partnership, where I offer wellbeing and relational support to the employees of the many organisations. As a result, I appreciate many of the relationship difficulties that young people and adults face and offer a constructive model for change. I also appreciate the stresses that staff may experience, especially at the moment, dealing with organisational change, job uncertainty and the challenges faced when striving to achieve a healthy work-life balance.
Please call me today on: 07846078588 or click here to send me an email.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications
- Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling, Cardiff and Vale College
- Advanced Cerfificate in Couples Therapy, Inter-action Training and Consultancy, COSRT-approved
- Advanced Certificate Level 4 in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, (ACT), Cardiff University
- Practitioner in Restorative Approaches, Belinda Hopkins and Wales Restorative Approaches Partnership
- MA hons Natural Sciences, Cambridge University
- Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy, Guy's Hospital London
- Post-Graduate Certificate in Secondary Education, University in Wales Institute Cardiff¹
Courses I have completed
- Transactional Analysis 101, Dr. Juan Delport
- Motivational Interviewing, Professor Steven Rollnick
- CBT Core Therapist and Client Skills, Dr. Christine Padesky
- Certificate in Mental Health First Aid, NHS Public Health Wales
- Level 3 Domestic Violence Awareness, Welsh Women's Aid
- ASIST suicide prevention, Living Works
- Neurodiversity Awareness Training, National Autistic Society
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
Fees
£50.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
My fee is £50 per 50 minute session for individual counselling and £70 per 1 hour session for couples. I offer a reduced fee for students and people on a low income, or who are unemployed.
The number of sessions is entirely up to you, and is something we can discuss at the outset, and then monitor as the counselling proceeds.
Some people have specific issues that may only require a very few sessions. Others find that they have less specific goals, or more deep-seated issues, and find that a longer period of counselling is useful.
The number of sessions doesn't have to be decided at the outset and may become more apparent as counselling proceeds. Every person is unique and the pace at which they work varies.
When I work
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Myearliest session is 9am and my last session is 6pm
