Francisca D'Souza
Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hello and welcome. I am an Integrative Counsellor and Coach and offer sessions online and over the phone. I know that finding the right therapist is often the most challenging part hence, I have provided you with some information about my practice. If you feel you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to working with you.
How I work
My clients come to me for help with their anxiety, depressive thoughts/ feelings, sexuality, past trauma, relationship issues, low self-esteem, anger and other such difficulties. I offer a warm, confidential and non-judgemental space for us to work together and for you to find your way forward. In the safety of the room, I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings and difficult experiences in order for us to work collaboratively at managing them so that you can live a rich and meaningful life.
As I am trained in counselling and coaching, I offer a more unique approach to my sessions by combining both processes. The reason I do this is because I find that clients often don’t only want to explore their thoughts and feelings (what counselling tends to offer) but also want support to make specific changes to their lives or achieve specific goals (what coaching tends to offer). I want to enable clients to achieve both these aspects during therapy, so we spend time exploring and understanding difficulties, identifying unhelpful patterns of thoughts and behaviours, learning new skills and then using these skills to make positive changes. My clients have said that this approach has resulted in them actually taking concrete actions in their lives, helping them experience positive results.
The way I work depends entirely on the client and what you want. It is essential that you decide how you want to work in the session and what is important for you. I will from time to time, offer options of where we could go and what we could focus on but it is you who makes the decision as I firmly believe that you know yourself the best. I like to see myself as a passenger in your car, I will help you navigate and identify route options but as you are in the driver’s seat, you decide on the destination, which route we take and how long we spend exploring areas.
My Approach
As an Integrative therapist, I'm trained in a range of modalities, so I tailor my approach to suit your needs. I use a combination of techniques and tools from Person-Centred therapy, Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Gestalt, Transactional Analysis, Existentialist therapy and Solution Focus therapy. Where relevant, I will teach you how to connect with your body, use guided meditation, visualisation, and grounding exercises to help manage difficult thoughts, emotions and situations.
In addition to this, I also use some coaching techniques to help my clients make changes in their lives, moving from thinking about goals to working on achieving them.
How many sessions will it take?
Each person is different so it is not a ‘one size fits all’. The number of sessions and the length of time all depends on where the client is in their life’s journey and what difficulties they want to work on. Each client’s circumstances are different so it all depends on what you would like to get out of therapy and how long you wish to attend. You can attend as few or as many as you would like. We can most definitely discuss this and agree on the number of sessions during the initial assessment.
What to expect in the first session
I am currently only seeing clients online using a video platform or over the telephone.
I will invite you to talk a little about what brings you to therapy, your goals (if you have any) and what you think you would like to get out of it. You can also ask me any questions you may have about counselling. I will do the same and ask you a few questions about you and take your history. You are encouraged to share only as much as you feel comfortable sharing during the session, so do not feel pressured to reveal anything you don’t want to. Do not worry about being nervous, it is only natural and happens to everyone.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have a level 7 Postgraduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling and Coaching (BACP) from the University of East London and a Master's degree from the University of Bristol in Psychology of Education.
I have 11 years experience working in the care sector when I have enjoyed the roles of Forensic mental health practitioner, Positive behaviour analyst and Quality assurance advisor. I worked with individuals with mental health conditions as well learning disabilities, and autism.
I am currently undertaking further training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and continue to grow as a practitioner by enrolling in short-term courses and continual education.
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
£60.00 per session
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
When I work
Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Morning | |||||||
Afternoon | |||||||
Evening | |||||||
Night |
Further information
BACP Registered Member 389797