Edmund Giszter
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Life is difficult. Sometimes overwhelmingly so. At times of distress we often feel at our most isolated; we may find it hard to see beyond our immediate unhappiness and to draw on our inner resources. Seeing a therapist can help, providing a safe and enquiring space to explore and grow from our challenges. Therapy may not always feel easy, but at its best it can be supportive, empowering and liberating.
Taking the initial step of contacting a therapist can be scary but as an experienced counsellor and psychotherapist I trust that I am able to “meet you where you are" and provide a safe, non-judgemental space to work collaboratively with you and to explore ways to help you move forward.
Adult Therapy
Most of us have some sense of how we have been shaped by our earlier experiences in life. These experiences often create a pattern - a template for how we meet the world around us. We often lock away difficult experiences in a way that protects us from pain but can leave us feeling only partially ourselves. By uncovering these inner patterns and facing difficult experiences we become freer to move forwards in our lives.
As well as the past, each stage of life can throw up new challenges – achieving independence from our families, managing the challenges of a committed relationship, establishing ourselves in a career or experiencing the pains of loss or ill health. Both past and present are connected and therapy can help us identify and navigate areas where we are being prevented from living as fully as we would wish. I aim to offer a therapeutic relationship which provides a supportive, enquiring space in which these patterns can be identified and worked with. It is a space in which you can quieten and attune to the many thoughts and feelings that might be hidden, even to yourself.
Child & Adolescent Therapy
For children and young people their patterns of relating to the world are still being formed - shaped from moment to moment. New experiences and challenges can have a significantly greater impact simply because children have fewer past experiences to draw on and with which to contextualise their difficulty. Often they do not yet have language for their experience so may express their distress through their behaviour. I work with young people to help them connect with, express and develop language for their emotional difficulties. This can help them to feel less unhappy and angry, increase their capacity to concentrate and learn, develop their resilience and improve their relationships with family and friends.
I am trained to work with the creative arts and with younger children I take a variety of approaches, such as paint, clay, sand tray and puppetry, to help them access their feelings. Inclusion of parents or carers is an important part of psychotherapy with children and young people and you will be invited to shared discussions about the work on a regular basis.
Next Steps
If you decide to contact me I will offer you a short telephone consultation to discuss your concerns. Should you wish to proceed we’ll arrange an initial face to face consultation to explore whether I can be of help. This would give you a sense of me as a therapist and enable you to assess if I am the right therapist for you.
If you are looking for therapy for a child or young person the process would be the same. I would invite both parent(s)/carer(s) and the child or young person to the initial consultation.
Every therapeutic journey is different and I will explore with you whether a short block of sessions might be enough or whether longer term work might be needed. Either way I will usually begin by offering 6 or 12 sessions and then review with you what would be most helpful.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am an adult counsellor and a child psychotherapist and work in private practice with adults, adolescents and children.
I hold a Masters Degree in Integrative Child Psychotherapy (Institute for the Art in Therapy & Education) and a Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling (Highgate Counselling Centre). I have also trained in short term interventions including Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (Anna Freud Centre). I trained for two years in Core Process Psychotherapy, a Buddhist informed psychotherapy (Karuna Institute), and have undertaken trainings in Fundamentals of Psychosynthesis (Institute of Psychosynthesis), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (ACAT) and Foundation in Art Therapy (British Association of Art Therapist).
I am registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
I began my training in counselling and psychotherapy over 25 years ago and I have worked with adults at Highgate Counselling Centre, as a therapist in CAMHS for the NHS, for the charity Place2Be and in primary and secondary schools. I have practiced meditation for 30 years and have run mindfulness courses in several large companies.
As well as ‘talking therapy’ I am trained to work with the creative arts in my therapeutic work and whilst this is often of particular value with children, it can become a powerful tool for exploration in adult work for some clients, should they wish to use the arts.
I abide by the ethical guidelines of BACP and as such I am in regular supervision to support my work and am committed to regular continuing professional development.
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
£65.00 - £80.00
Additional information
Initial Phone Consultation Free
Online/telephone sessions from £65-80
Face to Face Initial Consultation (75 mins) £65
Face to Face Individual Sessions (50 mins) £65 - £80 per session.
Some concessions are available for students and low-waged.
When I work
I offer sessions on weekdays including early morning, daytime and evening.
