Coco Ann
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Therapy can be a huge awakening and a powerful investment into our wellbeing. It can be confronting and messy yet be exactly what we need at the same time. My wish is to provide a private, confidential space to help you navigate life, have a deeper understanding of yourself or others and help process your thoughts and feelings. I use a Humanistic approach which views each person as a unique individual and allows you the choice to decide who you want to be and how you want to live.
I believe that we all deserve to have a voice and agency over our lives, but many of us find ourselves feeling powerless, lost, discontent or in despair. Not only can our personal lives be challenging, the world we live in can make those challenges even harder to overcome. I consider the systemic structures that affect us both collectively and individually.
I specialise in LGBTQ+ counselling but you do not need to identify with this to reach out. I welcome allies, friends or relatives of the community, or anyone who might have a curiosity about their gender or sexuality but isn’t sure how they identify.
Training, qualifications & experience
Postgraduate Diploma in Humanistic Counselling & Psychotherapy at Brighton University (BACP registered).
MA Creative Writing & BA Hons English Literature
I have volunteered at MindOut offering counselling to LGBTQ+ adults for 2+ years and I have worked with students and young people experiencing mental health issues and neurodiversity. Additionally, I am trained as a Bereavement Counsellor at a Hospice in Eastbourne, so I can help people process their experience with grief and loss. I've found that my own lived experience of self development, long term therapy and overcoming mental health challenges and trauma enriches my work with my clients, as I know firsthand that life can change no matter how hopeless it feels and I am not afraid to sit with other's depths, fears or pain.
With professional experience supporting both adults and young people, perhaps you might be the parent or loved one of a young person who is struggling and you're finding you'd like some support with this too. Maybe you are the parent or loved one of a young person who is exploring their gender and sexual identity, and I can help you explore and understand their journey with this as well as your own - counselling is a space for you and a space about you, but it often has a huge impact on our outside relationships.
My therapeutic approach is Humanistic and client-led, allowing you to take the direction of your counselling rather than me telling you what to do, whilst still offering gentle challenge, curiosity and insights. A Humanistic approach emphasises the importance of having choice and to become our truest selves. I incorporate the mind-body connection and somatic awareness as our embodied experience is just as important as the words we speak. With my background initially in English Literature and writing, I enjoy adding creativity into my sessions if that suits your needs. This might involve drawing, sand tray work, music, letters or poetry.
I appreciate just how daunting the first session can be. I will welcome you with warmth and hope to create a friendly atmosphere that will put you at ease. It's important that you find a therapist that feels right for you, and if it doesn't then you have a choice to say no. Exercising your right to say 'Yes' or 'No' to something is healing in itself. The most important thing is the therapeutic relationship, and my goal is to provide one that will help you in the ways that you need.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
- PMDD/Menstrual Issues
- Bi-erasure/Bisexuality
- Self-Empowerment
- Family Estrangement
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£50.00 - £60.00
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
When I work
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My online availability can be flexible. My face to face hours are Monday afternoon/evenings but more face to face slots available April onwards.
