Debbie Maidwell- North Star Psychotherapy.
About me
I am a UKCP registered Humanistic Integrative counsellor and psychotherapist working with individuals over 18 years of age.
Life is too short to be unhappy, anxious or unfulfilled. Even the strongest among us can feel lost, unsure and unhappy at times. As a professional therapist, I can help you to understand and manage whatever life throws at you, and do it successfully.
I believe that you have the strength not simply to survive, but to thrive.
Emotional struggles can be an intrinsic element to everyday life and can often appear overwhelming. On such occasions talking therapy can bring enormous relief. Having an opportunity to engage with a therapist who is unbiased and approaches each individual with compassion, respect, empathy and who is non-judgemental is pivotal in assisting the client when undertaking a journey of recovery.
Our lives today are changing rapidly and becoming progressively complex. We find ourselves communicating via a multitude of electronic devices. The opportunity to experience face to face connections is decreasing. It is the ability to forge a relationship with another that nourishes and benefits our health, heart and soul.
I work from a consulting room adjacent to my home, based in a rural area within the Tyne Valley.
Training, qualifications & experience
- UKCP Registered
- Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
- Post Grad Diploma in Psychotherapy (distinction)
- Certificate in Couples Counselling
I have gained my experience working within the NHS, a Hospice setting, a Women's Centre, MIND, and in Private Practice.
Member organisations
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.

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP is one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy. Therapists registered with the Association fall into a number of different membership categories such as Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP and Registered Member MBACP (Accred), each standing for different levels of training and experience. MBACP (Accred) and MBACP (Snr Accred) members have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by the Association.
Registered members can be found on the BACP Register, which was the first register to achieve Accredited Voluntary Register status issued by the Professional Standards Authority. Individual Members will have completed an appropriate counselling and/or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but will not appear on the BACP Register until they've progressed to Registered Member MBACP status.
All members are bound by a Code of Ethics & Practice and a Complaints Procedure. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.

UK Council for Psychotherapy
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership

Accredited Register Scheme
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 individuals
£65 Couples
Each session lasts 50 minutes.
Further information
My training has allowed me to work with different levels of difficulty. These could be deep seated issues to the problems that have arisen or developed more recently. Our initial assessment meeting would enable us to decide together which would best meet your needs from short-term counselling to long-term depth psychotherapy.
I work within an integrative and humanistic framework with transactional analysis as my core theoretical model but also encompassing other theories and approaches as appropriate to meet the clients need.
I believe that the nature and the quality of the therapeutic relationship is of crucial importance in enabling change and resolution, and is a vehicle for addressing and making changes to people's lives and the way that they think, feel and behave.