Imogen Wade

I studied English at the University of Exeter and Vassar College in New York. During this time, I volunteered extensively and found a passion for relational ways of working. These roles included training as an education coach and working 1-on-1 with young people, and facilitating poetry groups in a care home to develop intergenerational connections with the elderly. After graduation, I trained as a crisis counsellor with Mental Health Innovations, providing support on the Shout crisis line, which if you haven’t heard of it is similar to the Samaritans. There was no limit on what people who contacted me were dealing with, but the most common issues were suicidal thoughts, panic attacks and self-harm. 

Data collated by Samaritans shows the suicide rate for females under 25 has increased by 93.8% since 2012. I was interviewed by Cosmopolitan Magazine about my work in suicide prevention, especially with women. I found that a lot of teenage girls who text in say, ‘I told someone and they say I’m causing drama.’ It’s a stereotype and then their feelings aren’t validated. We all have internalised attitudes in society that play out in our relationships with others, but the starting point should always be ‘I believe you and it’s OK to feel this way.’ I believe in promoting deep acceptance, understanding and open listening to young women so they feel less alone. My work with Shout gave me a solid grounding in areas I would later go on to specialise in, with a further qualification in Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention.

I was living in Cornwall at the time, and embarked on my study in Person-Centred Counselling and Therapy at the Cornwall Counselling Institute, which was the only course in the area that was accredited both by a university and the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. This gave me a rigorous start to my career, where I studied the foundations and later developments in person-centred therapy, from the humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers to later practitioners such as Mick Cooper. The course involved not just psychology but a huge amount of relational work, to challenge me and deepen my skills as a practitioner. Having your own therapy is an essential requirement; this is a commitment I took seriously, so I have experience seeing the therapy room from a client’s perspective too.

I worked around Cornwall as a counsellor and therapist with two agencies, Lifetime Therapy and Counselling for Social Change. Both of these were in collaboration with support groups for young people, Georgia’s Voice and The Pearl Exchange. The majority of my clients were women aged 18 to 25 who had experience of suicidal thoughts; I developed a passion for working with this demographic, seeing the fact that I was also a young woman as a strength, as it allowed me to connect on a deeper level with my clients. I was encouraged to foster a sense of female empowerment, which to me means helping clients unlock their inner strength. I also gained experience following the Single Session Therapy model developed by Windy Dryden, enriching my blend of SST's key principles with a traditional model.

After moving to Surrey, I opened my therapy practice Velaris Counselling and joined The Eaves as an affiliate therapist, where I now provide private therapy to women from around the country. When I am not working, I love to write and won the U.K.’s National Poetry Competition in 2023. I have been recognised in multiple awards and been widely published. Although poetry is not something I bring into sessions unsolicited, if I have a client who is interested in poetry I am always happy to integrate their creative work into our practice together. 

“. . . you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do—

determined to save

the only life that you could save.”

- Mary Oliver

£60.00 per session

I work remotely Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. I work in Guildford on Friday afternoons.