Dawn Aitchison

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I am a Person-Centred counsellor and supervisor living on the Lizard peninsular in Cornwall. I see private clients, both adults and young people, at my home in Mullion, near Helston. I have an interest in integrating the creative arts in my practice so if you would like to work creatively, this is one of the approaches I can offer.

As part of my private practice, I work two mornings a week as a school counsellor in a local secondary school and one morning in a local primary, I offer EAP work for the Schools Advisory Service, providing support for teachers, and I also work for a low-cost counselling agency for adults who live in the Camborne area.

Previously, I have worked as a creative therapist for CLEAR, a Cornish charity that supports children who have experienced domestic abuse. I have also worked as a counsellor for Cornwall Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, as a student counsellor at Cornwall College and volunteered as a support worker for Penhaligon's Friends, a local childhood bereavement charity.

I am a qualified clinical supervisor with PTUK. If you are interested in supervision, particularly if you want to explore your practice creatively, please click on my supervision profile at the bottom of the page to find out more.

WHY COUNSELLING?

Usually individuals choose to have counselling because they are experiencing difficulties and distress in their lives. Sometimes people can be isolated but at other times, even where an individual has the most supportive family and friends, they can find it difficult if not impossible to explain why, for example, they may be feeling anxious and or depressed. Or it may be easier to talk about personal, family, or relationship issues with a person who is independent of friends and family. Other life issues and events which can be very difficult to deal with include bereavement, divorce, redundancy, health issues, bullying and so on. However, you do not have to be in crisis or on the verge of one, before choosing to have therapy. You may be experiencing underlying feelings of dissatisfaction with life in general, or be seeking balance in your life and spirituality. All of these reasons and more will bring individuals to therapy (BACP website).

For me counselling is:

A safe space where what you bring is treated with respect and confidentiality.

A non-judgmental space where you are seen and accepted for who you are.

A creative space where you can encounter yourself and become more intimate with your thoughts, feelings and meanings, enabling you to find your own way to move on with your life.

During counselling I will:

Listen to you, accept you for who you are, and be honest with you.

Treat you with respect regardless of your race, religion, sexuality, disability, age, class or lifestyle.

View the counselling session as ‘your space’ and allow you to choose what you want to focus on and how you would like to work; this could include visual images, writing, music, movement or working outside, if you find this helpful.

Encourage you to set your own goals for counselling and work towards them, reviewing progress over time.

It is my experience that the person centred approach, with its emphasis on creating a warm, lively and supportive therapeutic relationship can bring about effective change and enhance wellbeing.