Dean Addams
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am a MBACP accredited Gestalt Practitioner. I have been counselling for nearly two decades. I am in private practice seeing individuals and couples for Counselling and longer term therapy. I work short term or long term work, as required. I do offer concessions for those on low-income that can come daytimes so do enquire. I specialise in issues surrounding childhood sexual abuse, sexuality, depression and anxiety. I offer supervision to trainee or qualified counsellors and psychotherapists.
The German word ‘Gestalt’ is not easily translated into a single, English term. Loosely translated it means ‘the whole picture’. Accordingly, a main purpose of counselling is to get a picture or a sense of the client as a whole – what he or she is about and what the whole picture is. This process requires a lot of thinking, feeling and guidance from a counsellor.
My approach to therapy is a comprehensive and holistic one. I work with and explore every aspect of my clients’ individuality, from how they think about and articulate themselves in their personhood, to the ways in which emotional wounding and trauma can manifest and express itself in the physical body.
Whether the therapeutic journey is explicitly body-oriented, spiritual, experimental or practical, or a combination of all of these approaches, I work differently with each one of my clients as each client that I see is a unique individual. In every case, I completely respect and honour clients’ values and beliefs. From my perspective, therapy is about two people engaging each other with their personal experiences and beliefs, their gender, sexuality, age and cultural backgrounds to grow and move together towards peace, aliveness, healing and happiness.
The fundamental goal in Gestalt counselling is to promote awareness. Accordingly, as one becomes more aware of their body, mind, environment and spiritual self, they are better able to create vivid, meaningful experiences and therefore improve the quality of their life by making better, more satisfying decisions.
As a Gestalt practitioner, I aim to continuously promote clients’ awareness by working with body movements, vocal patterns and styles, one-to-one interactions, and where appropriate, through the use of experimentation in a safe, professional and supportive environment. In addition to the development of awareness, as a Gestalt counsellor I also take a strong focus on helping clients to improve their ability to emotionally self-support and strengthen interpersonal contact.
Training, qualifications & experience
Educationally, I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree (graduated with honours) and a Master’s degree in English Literature. I have also completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Psychoanalysis and Culture and subsequently achieved a Diploma in Gestalt Therapy. Most recently I went back and completed my psychotherapy training in Gestalt Theory & Practice, but I prefer to refer to myself as a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor.
Throughout my academic training, I took a keen interest and specialisation in the field of sexuality including cultural taboos and sexual dissidence, and during the course of my professional career, I have maintained an enthusiastic and devoted interest in human psychology. This interest has been a driving force throughout my many years of practical experience as a counsellor.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
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.
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
£50.00 - £70.00
Free initial telephone session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Sliding scale from
£50 - 70 lower income daytime/student (limited)
£70 normal day fees
£70 - 90 evening fees. low income/full employment (couples £90).
When I work
various daytimes and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday evenings.
Further information
As an accredited member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, I subscribe to their Ethical Framework for Good Practice. I have private indemnity insurance and I am committed to my own personal development and training.
