About me
Hi, I'm Darren.
How are you today? No, really—how are you???
As someone who’s worked through the struggles of life, I get it—and I’m here to help. Life can be hard, but you’re not alone. I offer affordable, quality counselling for everyone.
Drawing from my experience as a pub landlord, bookmaker, and care/support worker, I've developed a genuine, relatable approach. I pride myself on quickly building strong, supportive relationships essential for the personal change you are looking for.
As a person-centred counsellor, I see the whole person, not just the issues you face. Together, we can explore your past to understand the origins of your challenges (if you wish) and examine how they affect you now, to work towards a better future. You are the expert on yourself, and my role is to sit alongside you, helping you realise your worth and build towards where you want to be. I offer you my honesty, and a non-judgemental ear, ensuring that you are at the heart of everything we do - at your pace and in your time when you are ready.
Most importantly, I'll hear you. How often are you really heard?
Together, we can explore your negative emotions and feelings whether they are anger, fear, unfulfillment, sadness, resentment, anxiety, guilt, desperation, frustration, helplessness, shame, unfairness, discontentment, feeling unimportant, loneliness, emptiness, or anything else. We can then discuss accepting these feelings to transform them and foster a more positive outlook.
I can also draw from other counselling models, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, transactional analysis, and psychodynamic approaches, to achieve the best outcomes for you.
We’ll start with a free 15-minute call or video chat to get to know each other. If we both feel it’s a good fit, we’ll go ahead and book your first counselling session. It’s a chance to see if this support feels right for you.
The first session will always be an assessment session - I will work with you to gain a deeper understanding of who you are and the challenges you are facing. Together, we can explore your goals and aspirations, discussing how we can collaborate to help you become the person you want to be.
And that's me! If you feel that I may be the right counsellor for you, please don't hesitate to reach out via the email or telephone number provided on this page to arrange an initial 15-minute consultation, free of charge. I am happy to answer any questions you have during this call, or you can ask me over email if you prefer.
Please be reassured that I follow GDPR data protection principles at all times.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Darren
Training, qualifications & experience
I hold a degree in person-centred counselling and am a registered member of the BACP following their framework to ensure that my practice is ethical and safe, and always prioritises your best interests.
I have experience as a counsellor in primary and secondary schools and within a not-for-profit charity, counselling adults from the local community. Referrals to the charity often come from the Police Victim Support Service, doctor's surgeries, or self-referrals. I support individuals dealing with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, OCD, bereavement, work-related challenges, and much more.
In addition to individual counselling, I run a successful men's support group (face-to-face) and am considering setting up online support groups.
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
Fees
£35.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
*Only a small number of sessions still available.*
I offer counselling via the Internet or telephone only - *Not face-to-face at the moment
When I work
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My working hours vary considerably - please get in touch for my latest availability.
