Jane Spencer BA(hons), MA, UKCP

Adult counselling and psychotherapy

At the moment we are living through unprecedented times that are leaving many people feeling anxious, panicky, despairing or worried. It can feel hard to live with the uncertainty of not knowing when our lives will be back to normal. I am offering short term counselling (6-12 sessions) at a reduced rate (£20) to support people to address issues that have arisen out of this crisis where they might otherwise struggle to meet the costs of therapy or counselling. Please get in touch to discuss this further with me if you feel this would help.

I am an experienced counsellor and psychotherapist offering both long term and short term work. I am integrative in my approach as I believe that I can be most helpful to you by offering a range of ways of thinking about and managing challenges in your life to suit your individual needs. I will support you to explore issues and experiences, past and present, that are troubling you. It can be a big step deciding to seek therapeutic support. I offer a space that will hopefully enable you to feel that you are taking a step in the right direction .

Life can feel difficult and overwhelming at times and a safe space to explore how you are feeling with someone who is empathic and non judgemental can be helpful. Exploring emotions and thoughts with someone else who is there to listen to you, think about you and support you can be transformative. Reflecting on how past and present experiences are intertwined can help you to understand yourself better and free you from patterns of thinking and being that may have been helpful in the past but are now holding you back. The work we undertake together can be issue based or more explorative depending on your needs. We can work together to discover the changes that you want to make in yourself and in your life and think about how you can get to where you would like to be.

I have experience of working with a wide range of issues including depression, anxiety, bereavement, loss, relationship issues, negative thought patterns, low self esteem, separation and divorce, domestic violence, suicidal ideation, self harm, eating issues, trauma and childhood neglect and abuse.

Counselling and Psychotherapy with children, young people and families

I have many years of experience offering counselling and therapy to children and young people. As well as working privately I have worked as a psychotherapist with young people and families in many organisational contexts including primary and secondary schools, CAMHS and voluntary sector organisations such as the Children's Society, Action for Children, Relate and Capstone Foster Care Agency. I have worked as a therapist, supervisor and as clinical lead/manager in these agencies.

I have play and arts materials available for young people to use if they wish to. My experience is that using these materials can support a young person to express themselves and process difficult experiences or feelings in a non verbal way. Sometimes, it is just easier for young people to talk when they are doing something else as well!

I have worked with young people presenting with a wide range of issues including trauma, abuse, depression, anxiety, anger, eating issues, struggles with peer relationships, bullying, low self esteem, lack of confidence, divorce and separation, bereavement, family illness, self harm, suicidal thoughts and gender dysphoria. I have experience of working with young people with ASD, ADHD and learning disabilities.

Young people can call me themselves to arrange to meet if they feel able to do so. However this can feel daunting and the first call is often made by the parent on behalf of the young person. In this situation, I will offer an initial telephone call with the parent to find out more about the issues that have led to the enquiry and work out whether I am the right person to support their child. We can set up a meeting with the young person so they can decide if they wish to take the step into counselling.

Work with parents

Sometimes working with you as a parent directly is helpful and can be a way forward to support the young person when they are reluctant to attend themselves or when you feel you are in need of a space to think as a parent. I offer sessions to think about your relationship with your child maybe where there are family issues, where your child is experiencing emotional or mental health difficulties that are hard to deal with or where you feel you are struggling to relate to your child in the way that you would like. Sometimes it is just reassuring to talk things through and know that you are offering the right support. This can be also a space for you as a parent to understand your own emotional responses and think about different ways to understand and be with your child. It can be a space to explore how your own experiences of being parented when you were young and how this may be impacting you as a parent now.

Parent Infant Psychotherapy

I  am an experienced parent infant psychotherapist. I worked with OXPIP (Oxford Parent Infant Project) for a number of years as a psychotherapist, supervisor, trainer and also latterly as Clinical Director.  I work with parents who may feel that having a space to explore their relationship with their infant would support building a closer bond, enable them to adjust to life as a parent and deal with the sometimes tumultous feelings that being a parent of a newborn baby can bring. Work can begin in pregnancy where this is helpful. I have experience of working with ante and post natal depression and with parents where difficulties with fertility or  past miscarriages or losses are impacting on your relationship with your baby.

Supervision and consultation

I also offer clinical supervision to counsellors and psychotherapists working with adults, children and young people. I work with both experienced and trainee clinicians.

I am also able to provide consultation to professionals working with children and families either ongoing or as a one off session.

In the current situation with coronavirus, I am offering online and telephone counselling as an alternative to in-person sessions if this is preferred.