James Donaldson

Hello, I'm James.

For the past 20 years, I have used talking therapies to support those suffering from depression, trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), childhood and relational abuse, anxiety, acute stress, bereavement, and relationship concerns. I have delivered counselling to the armed forces community in hospitals and domestic settings, for the NHS Primary Care Services in North Wales to patients referred by mental health teams and the GP, and in private practice both face-to-face and online.

I am trained in counselling and psychotherapy having achieved a distinction at Masters Degree and have attended an array of development courses over the years to ensure I can effectively deliver the right tools and methods. These courses and my experience has enabled me to work successfully with:

• PTSD & Trauma 
• Survivors of Sexual Abuse
• Bereavement & Loss
• Stress Management
• Mindfulness (Depression & Anxiety)
• Family Dynamics & Systems
• Relationships and Attachment

I use an integrative style of counselling ensuring a tailor-made approach that is right for you. I believe that enabling you to find a deeper level of acceptance is key to beginning the changes you seek and to living a more fulfilled life. An integrative approach gives you access to varying therapeutic approaches, models, and tools that are research-based and effective.  

I am also a trained teacher of mindfulness, a clinical hypnotherapist, NLP Practitioner, and performance coach, which ensures I can offer a range of services to enable all my clients to effectively address the difficulties they face, developing practices for them to build their resilience, and identify goals and strategies to enhance their own life satisfaction personally and professionally.

I deliver sessions face-to-face in my practice room or online via Zoom or WhatsApp, which is an approach I have gained significant experience in due to COVID 19 restrictions impacting the counselling profession considerably. Online work enables me to support people throughout the UK and beyond from the comfort of their own spaces, without them having to worry about traveling. If you are new to online therapy, then you can rest assured that I will support you through the process to ensure that you get the best out of our time together. It’s easy when you know how!

I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and strictly adhere to their framework and ethical guidelines, which can be found at: https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/ethics-and-standards/

What can you expect from me?

I believe that developing a therapeutic relationship is of the utmost importance, so I will bring my whole self into the work we do and invite you to do the same. Genuineness, trust, and empathy are key to ensuring that you feel valued, listened to, and supported, which in turn will enable you to make the changes you seek in time.

How do we begin?

Once you have gotten in touch, via email or telephone, we can arrange an initial free 30-minute consultation. This lets us meet each other and begin to get to know what working together will be like. I will also provide you with information about the counselling process, which includes the contract and boundaries we both agree to undertake to ensure that you feel safe and secure. You will also be invited to ask any questions you may have so that you can finish the consultation feeling clear about what counselling is and how it might help, support, and enable you.

The 1st session

This begins with a little admin regarding the contract and contact details, and also focuses on the goals you may have from therapy. We may begin to shape the outcome(s) you would like to move towards as a way of measuring your growth through the sessions. This session will last for 60 minutes and, for some clients, can even be enough for them. Alternatively, it may become clear that further sessions will be useful to you.

Further sessions

Ongoing sessions are typically 50 minutes long and occur weekly depending on what you can afford. Many clients find that they enjoy a significant change or benefit from around 6 sessions; however, we will review your progress as you go along to ensure that you have the right amount of time to reach a point where you feel able to move away from therapy and forward into your life.

Ending

At a certain point, it may become clear that working together has either enabled you to achieve the goals and aims you had at the first session, or that you are in a better place to be able to achieve them for yourself without a therapist. If this is the case, then we can agree to end our work together. Although this can sometimes feel worrying or even a little sad, it is a very positive step in your journey as it demonstrates that growth has occurred for you.

• Armed/Emergency Services & Veterans
• Coaching

£90 per session for online/face-to-face counselling or coaching.

£90 per session for online/face-to-face mindfulness teaching. 

Through my business, Auctus Wellbeing Services, I design and deliver onsite/online resilience and mindfulness courses to groups. I have developed a 10-part 'Resilience Toolkit', and a 5-part 'Mindfulness In Our Lives' course and can offer bespoke or hybrid courses containing elements of both for inspirational team development events.

Onsite delivery, my fees are:

Full-day rate£1000/Half-day rate £500 (plus travel, accommodation, and subsistence expenses).

Online delivery fees to groups are

'Resilience Toolkit @ £100 per session

'Mindfulness In our Lives' @ £200 per session.

For more information or to book a course please visit my website @ www.auctustraining.co.uk or call 07929 341114.