Elaine Ward
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About me
Feeling overwhelmed, losing confidence or no longer feeling like yourself?
Life can feel so hard, and making meaningful change on your own can seem almost impossible.
You may be struggling with anxiety, low mood or the pressures of balancing work, relationships and everyday life. You might have lost your job and be finding it impossible to find a new direction, or maybe work issues, stress or burnout are affecting your mental health.
Perhaps you find yourself constantly overthinking, lying awake at night worrying, or feeling irritable with the people closest to you. Are you exhausted by trying to keep everything going, or do you simply feel that you are not quite yourself anymore? It could be getting to the stage where you are dreading waking in the morning, and you know that you need to do something.
It can be difficult to understand why we feel this way, especially when everything seems fine to others on the outside. You may be used to putting other people’s needs before your own, or believe that you should be able to manage things without asking for help. Sometimes there are just too many pressures.
Maybe you have lost someone dear to you: a partner, a friend, a family member through estrangement, or a beloved pet.
You do not have to work through these feelings on your own, and if you are reading this, you have taken a positive step forward.
I work with adults aged 18 and over who are experiencing
- Anxiety and depression
- Work related stress and burnout
- Low self-confidence/low self esteem
- Family and relationship difficulties including estrangement
- Finding their identity.
- Late autism and/or ADHD diagnosis, or diagnosis for their child
- Hormonal changes, such as perimenopause and menopause.
- Loss and Bereavement
- Life limiting or life restricting illness
I provide counselling online and by telephone, and offer you a calm and confidential space where you can talk openly about whatever is troubling you. If you live in the Basingstoke area and prefer to meet in person, we can do that as well.
Having the time and space to talk things through can help you begin to make sense of how you are feeling. Together, we can explore what is contributing to your difficulties, recognise patterns that might be keeping you stuck, and find a way forward.
There is no pressure to have all the answers or know where to begin. We can take things at your pace, focusing on what feels most important to you.
Taking the first step towards counselling can feel daunting, particularly if you are the “strong one”, used to managing things on your own. If you feel ready to talk,
I warmly welcome you to Elaine Ward Counselling for:
- A 15 minute introductory chat
- A half price (£35) first session
I look forward to hearing from you.
Training, qualifications & experience
- I am a qualified BACP Registered Counsellor, based in Basingstoke Hampshire.
- I have a level 5 Foundation Degree in Humanistic Counselling based on Transactional Analysis.
- I am currently studying for a degree in Integrative Counselling and am undertaking research into how comfortable women feel in discussing perimenopause to post menopause
- I invest in continuing professional development including ADHD, Counselling in Nature/Walk and Talk, Anxiety, Self-harm, Psychological impacts of hormones on female mental health
- I volunteer as a qualified counsellor for Basingstoke College of Technology and have been a Listening volunteer for St Michael's Hospice Basingstoke.
- I have worked for global organisations for over 25 years, in specialist and senior leadership positions and am professionally qualified
- My career has included working alongside the NHS in the areas of Women's and Men's hormone health, mental health, multiple sclerosis and cancer diagnosis.
- I have worked for Anaphylaxis UK in a leadership position and spent time with families who have experienced the bereavement of a family member/friend or work colleague.
Young Adults and Career/Work Challenges
I have experience working with college, university and young people in their early careers. I have supported senior leaders and people who have experienced redundancy and been poorly treated by their employer.
I have a particular interest in
- All stages of menopause and hormone mental health related difficulties.
- Clients with a life limiting or life restricting illness as well as carers
- Clients of any age exploring their identity
- Transgenerational trauma.
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
£50.00 - £100.00
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I offer counselling online and by telephone UK wide and in person in Basingstoke, Hampshire.
- Free 15 minute introductory call
- £35 first session
- £70 for 60 minutes
- £100 for 90 minutes
- £50 for trainee counsellors - counselling or mentoring
If 6 or more sessions are booked and paid for in advance, I offer a reduced rate - please enquire.
Terms and conditions apply.
When I work
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