Ian Gowland

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Counsellor and Supervisor, MBACP Snr Accred
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

Reading RG1 & Newbury RG14
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I have over ten years experience of counselling mainly working with sexual abuse, drugs/alcohol and LGBT issues. I work creatively with expressive arts approaches (art, drama, music, sandtray miniatures and movement), utilising my experiences in the theatre and my interest in art. I have experience of working with special education needs. I have a very comfortable, quiet consulting room located just 5 minutes walk from the centre of Reading.

Within the Person-centred ‘family’, I sit within the Person-centred Integrative modality. This means that I believe in the necessity of the core conditions, but that for me, this needs to be supported by ‘Creative Stimulation’ in the form of the creative and expressive therapies. I have a background in theatre and art, and so these approaches are very congruent with my way of being.

I also believe that verbal therapies may not always be sufficient. Research has shown that trauma is often stored in the right hemisphere and is often more difficult to make sense of by traditional talking therapies. Expressive arts therapies enables the client to access out-of-awareness material and bring it into their conscious awareness. I invite clients to experiment with drawing, movement, sound, enactment and projective methods to facilitate their understanding.

I offer a calm, reflective space where you are the focus of our sessions. My aim is to understand what it is like to be in your shoes, in a non-judgemental, empowering way.

Training, qualifications & experience

  • Certificate in Counselling Theory, AQA, 2001;
    Certificate in Counselling Skills, AQA, 2002;
    Advanced Diploma Humanistic Counselling, Guildford College, 2005;
    Certificate in Person-Centred Expressive Arts Therapy, 2008;
  • Certificate in Creative Supervision, Jenny Biancardi Consultancy, 2012;
    Postgrad Diploma in Psychological Therapies, Leeds Met University, 2012;
  • Certificate in Person-centred Art Therapy, PCATA, 2018.

Member organisations

Registered / Accredited

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.

BACP
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP)

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

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
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.

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

Therapies offered

Fees

Additional information

£40 per hour (some lost-cost places available). First session is free.

Reading, Berkshire, RG1

Type of session

In person

Types of client

Adults

Additional languages

None

Supervision

In person

The way I work as a supervisor is to aim to build a trusting relationship where the supervisee can feel free to bring whatever they would like to about their work with clients.

View supervision profile

Ian Gowland
Ian Gowland