Jennifer Raper
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hello. When life is a struggle and you feel overwhelmed, it can be incredibly hard to reach out for help. You may be going through a period of acute stress or anxiety, or you want to heal from some unhappiness stemming from experiences in your past. Or you may be feeling low without really knowing why. Whatever your reason for seeking counselling, I can offer you a warm, safe, supportive and non-judgemental space where you can take the time to explore your thoughts and feelings and find your way forward.
I am an experienced and well-qualified BACP-registered counsellor. I work with adults in face-to-face/in-person sessions in two different locations - at my private practice in Wigglesworth, North Yorkshire and also at the Lightwell Practice in Skipton. I can also offer online counselling by Zoom, as needed.
I see clients for long-term, open-ended work, but equally offer shorter, time-limited counselling contracts. How we agree to work together forms an important part of the discussion at the beginning of therapy. My aim is to be alongside you in a supportive, therapeutic relationship which helps you to explore confusing or difficult thoughts and feelings, to help you to heal from old wounds and to reflect with self-compassion and kindness on events and relationships in your life which may have had a significant impact or long-term consequences on your emotional well-being.
Through the therapeutic process, I will support you to recognise habitual ways of feeling and patterns of behaviour which may be linked to past experiences and to find greater peace of mind, and sense of control in your life.
The philosophical and theoretical principles which, I draw on in my work as a therapist are based on the humanistic values of Transactional Analysis. If this sounds technical, then another way of expressing this is that I believe people are essentially relational, motivated to seek their own potential for fulfilment, happiness and peace and have the capacity to decide what they want for their own lives.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with advanced training in Transactional Analysis psychotherapy. I have worked in private practice for the last 8 years, previously in London, Brighton and West Sussex, before moving back to North Yorkshire.
Alongside my clinical work in psychotherapy, I have spent around 20 years working in the UK university sector in the field of student support services where I gained extensive experience of working with vulnerability, the impact of early life trauma, with culture shock, cultural identity, loneliness, peer pressure, academic and career-related stress, anxiety, suicide ideation and many other issues.
I hold a Postgraduate Diploma in Transactional Analysis (Psychotherapy) Studies, further to successfully completing four years of psychotherapy training at Metanoia Institute (validating body - Middlesex University). I have undertaken professional development training in areas including personality disorders, domestic violence, self-harm and suicidality, diversity and mental health.
My non-clinical qualifications include an undergraduate degree (MA Hons) in French and a postgraduate degree (MA) in European Languages and Cultural Studies.
I offer counselling and psychotherapy services in the Settle and Skipton areas of North Yorkshire. I am fully insured and adhere to the code of ethics of the professional bodies with whom I am a member and registered.
These are some of the issues I work with in therapy:
- Anxiety and depression
- Domestic violence, including emotional and psychological abuse
- Relationship problems
- Family difficulties
- Stress
- Infertility/IVF
- Low self-esteem
- Living with pain and disability
- Cultural identity
- Cultural transition and culture shock
- Bereavement and loss
I have worked with clients in the following sectors:
- NHS
- UK higher education
- The voluntary sector
- The charity sector
Member organisations
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
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.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 per session
Free initial telephone session
When I work
I work some parts of mornings and afternoons on all weekdays. I can also offer some evening sessions between 5pm and 7pm.
Please do get in touch to discuss current availability.
Further information
Initial chat
If you contact me initially by email, it will be useful for us also to have a conversation on the phone, so we have a chance to talk a little more about what is bringing you to therapy and what support you are seeking. It's also a chance for you to ask me any questions, for example about how I practice, how therapy works, the practical arrangements, or anything at all that you are unsure about.
First session
In our first therapy session I will invite you to say something more about the issues that you are struggling with, and about what you want from the therapy process, including any specific goals, so we can plan how to move forward. It’s important to feel some rapport for a therapist because this will influence whether the work is successful or not. You can see how you experienced working with me in this first meeting and decide whether or not you would like to continue for a further period.
