About me
Time for you. A regular safe space to connect, feel really heard and understood. To improve your personal situation, no matter how hard, hopeless, confusing and awkward that might currently seem.
You may feel sad, unhappy; have stress, low self confidence, anxiety or depression; are more emotional than normal; are having difficulty with anger; relationship problems or family issues; feel hopeless; lonely; empty; have low self-esteem, a sense of poor mental health, or just don't feel like 'yourself', or how you want to be.
I work with adults and young people who'd like to move forward more contentedly in their life, and cope better. (I provide young people counselling, from the age of 9 years old upward).
Our discussions together can require going back to explore reasons you feel stuck; patterns of behaviour that are no longer serving you; reflect on symptoms that present themselves, or an environment that is affecting you (or has affected you), for improvement to take place. Helping you to express all you need, get in touch with your inner clarity and strength. For some people this can take time, and that's okay. My aim is to make you feel safe and comfortable in the process, and enable the best for you, personally, whilst working through any challenges, bringing about awareness, calm, self autonomy and creating potential solutions or resilience required. Life Coaching is integrated to support you in moving forward as required.
My training (see below) and experience enables me to consider all aspects of you and your circumstances [past, present and future] in our time together. I also have experience working with individuals with ADHD, Autism or those questioning Neurodiversity.
Reaching out is the first step to getting personal and effective support during difficult times. Having someone there for you to talk to, privately, can be such a release, and enables you to get in touch with your thoughts, emotions, feelings and desires, without others’ influences getting in the way.
I see clients in my private garden room in Hitchin, in person or online (so you don't have to be local).
I also work with Hertfordshire Mind Network, providing one to one sessions for adults, children and young people at The Sadie Centre charity in Letchworth, and deliver Mindfulness in schools.
I have a passion for enabling therapeutic support and psycho-education early in life to aid our future generation, and on a part-time basis, I work for Anna Freud, a child mental health research, training and treatment charity in London.
It's important for you to feel comfortable with your chosen therapist. So please do find out more about me here by visiting this link, arrange an introductory call, or get in touch to get a sense for yourself, or ask any questions you have: https://www.selfconnect.co.uk/about
I look forward to hearing from you.
Training, qualifications & experience
The combination of my training and experience is applied relevantly to each person - this enables me to consider you as the whole person that you are [mind, body, emotions, spirituality] and your circumstances [past, present and future] in our work together.
I hold the following specific certification:
- Psychodynamic Counselling Diploma
- Advanced Specialist Training in Person Centred Counselling for Children and Young People
- Life Coaching
- Neuro Linguistic Programming
- Reiki Western levels 1,2,3 and Master Teacher
- Breathe tutor (Mindfulness in Schools Project)
As a member of the BACP, I adhere to their ethical framework and uphold the highest standards of professional practice. I hold an enhanced DBS certificate and have monthly supervision. I also regularly undertake professional development, training, attend conferences and consume literature to ensure updated knowledge and understanding and effectiveness for my clients.
Below are some of these webinars, training and conferences that may be of interest:
- Equity Diversity and Inclusion
- Mentalization / Reflective parenting
- Internal Family Systems
- Various webinars with the UK Trauma Council
- Nurturing Neurodivergence
- Neurodiversity: the therapeutic encounter
- Working with Neurodiversity
- Anxiety in an uncertain world
- Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture
- Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating
- Understanding Addiction
- Safeguarding
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
£60.00 per session
Additional information
All one to one sessions are £60.00 for 50 minutes - whether in person, online or by phone. For both adults, children and young people.
An introductory call can be arranged before the first session.
Payment is required 24 hours before each session, and there is a cancellation notice of 24 hours, otherwise full payment is still required to be made.
Further information
Within my work with children and young people, I recognise that parents and carers can also very much benefit from therapeutic support and coaching support. In addition to delivering specific webinars for parents, one to one counselling is available.
I offer an initial phone call with the parent(s) prior to counselling starting for their child/young person.
