Christine McLaren
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
When you are feeling depressed, anxious and vulnerable, the path to therapy can itself feel fraught and bewildering – and may come after a long period trying to access help.
I am a psychodynamic counsellor. I offer a safe and reliable space in which you are invited to explore difficult and often frightening experiences and feelings. Psychodynamic therapy is rooted in modern psychoanalytic and attachment theories. Being able to talk and find the right words can be very challenging and painful but in this environment it can also bring great relief and allow the way for new perspectives on the past and present, a richer sense of self and autonomy, and a greater capacity for relationships.
My consulting room is in Cheltenham and I usually see clients face-to-face once a week. This can be long-term or a shorter, fixed-term. In our first two sessions we would explore what feels right for you.
I work with adults and young people.
Training, qualifications & experience
My first degree was in English Literature from Cambridge University. I later trained with Wessex Counselling and Psychotherapy, gaining a Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling, which is accredited by the BACP (British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists), of which I am a member, and the BPC (the British Psychoanalytic Council).
There is no state-regulated body for counselling and psychotherapy, but these are two of a handful of organizations recognized by doctors and health workers in the NHS. Because the nature of our work is longer-term (even the short-term model), it is generally unaffordable under the NHS, even though there is now evidence-based research to show this is effective for long-term recovery.
It is easy to feel alone as mental health services can be fractured and hard to understand, let alone access. If you contact me but feel, after our initial consultations, that for whatever reason, you would like to work with someone else, or we cannot find a mutually convenient time, I will endeavour to put you in touch with other experienced and well-qualified counsellors or psychotherapists (if that is what you want) so you are not left back at square one.
Member organisations
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.
The British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) is a professional association, representing the profession of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
The organisation is itself made up of fourteen member organisations and BPC accredits the trainings of its member organisations. An individual who qualifies from one of these trainings is then eligible for entry into the BPC's register.
BPC registrants are governed by a code of ethics, a policy of continuing professional development, a statement on confidentiality and a complaints procedure. The BPC is a Member Society of the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the Public Sector (EFPP). Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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.
