Holly Carter (MA) MBACP

I have enjoyed over a decade’s experience working as a relationship counsellor and therapist. I work with couples, individuals and families. I also work as a clinical supervisor. Alongside my private practice, I have worked for Relate for many years.

When working with clients, I offer a flexible approach which allows for weekly, fortnightly or monthly sessions. Appointments can be arranged for a regular fixed day and time, or be more casually set up to fit in with other commitments.

I also offer the opportunity for intensive counselling – which may be appropriate in a time of unexpected family or personal crisis, or when there are geographical challenges which make intensive sessions a more manageable option. Such work might comprise extended morning and afternoon meetings over two or three consecutive days.

I very much value the opportunities provided when seeing clients face to face, but currently I am conducting my practice remotely, by telephone or internet (zoom, skype, teams). ‘Remote’ counselling is not always a safe or effective way of working, and I will always discuss the possible advantages and disadvantages of this approach.

I hope to resume face to face work at my home, and in Exeter, later in the summer.

My post graduate training includes a Masters Degree in Relationship Therapy.  I am a registered member of the BACP. Prior to re-training in this field I worked for twenty years in London as a barrister, practising family law. (Please visit my website for more information.)

The essence of my practice from home is to offer a safe, peaceful and very private space in which to talk and think about the things which are causing unhappiness, grief or anxiety, or simply preoccupying one’s everyday thoughts.

I work in a tranquil detached annex, with a view of an orchard, and fields beyond. It is a calm and gentle place in which to discuss the private and the personal.

I also work from lovely consulting rooms in central Exeter, just off Magdalen Road.

There is no ‘usual’ or ‘common’ issue brought by clients, since we are all different, and respond to and experience, life’s events in unique ways. I will encourage you to think in depth about what concerns or upsets you, and I will help you to identify what might need to change, or what might benefit from being understood differently, in order to provide some relief. I find that it is often helpful to understand how it came to be that a particular issue, person or theme, has come to have so much power or influence over us.

My work with couples has looked at multiple and various experiences. A relentless and exhausting pattern of conflict can result in two very lonely, sad, and sometimes angry, people. If the conflict can be understood, and managed, differently then the relationship may start to recover. Particular events can similarly stress a relationship to breaking point – for example: an affair, debt, addiction, bereavement, any breach of trust. A relationship will need time and attention in order to repair itself.

Families come in all shapes and sizes, and are never ‘normal’!  It is never too early, or too late, to try to understand or improve the relationships which are given to us.

When working with a couple or a family I may suggest separate meetings from time to time.

First meeting

If you think that I might be useful to you, please do get in touch by email or telephone. I will generally be able to respond within a few hours, and will try to arrange an appointment within days, if required. A first meeting is an opportunity to find out whether you feel comfortable talking with me, and whether I can actually be useful and helpful to you. I will always try to arrange a first meeting within days if required. I offer a discounted rate for this initial session.