Jo Dawson
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am a person-centred counsellor and so you are entirely free to bring whatever you need to sessions and express yourself however you feel is most effective.
I have experience of long-term and time-limited work with clients with an amazing diversity of genders, sexualities, cultural backgrounds and life experiences. These include (but are not limited to) clients who:
- Have experienced (or are experiencing) abuse
- Experience anxiety and/or depression
- Have low self-esteem
- Are questioning their gender and/or sexuality
- Are transgender or non-binary
- Are neuro-divergent ( including autism)
- Come from different cultural backgrounds to me
- Have experienced acute physical illness
- Are living with chronic illness.
- Are working through family issues
I recognise that I cannot list every aspect of identity or experience that you may be struggling with and even if I could, your experience of any particular issue is as unique as you are. As a counsellor, I am here to work with you as an individual and focus on your unique needs.
I offer one to one counselling (i.e. it will just be me and you with no one else in the session).
I am happy to work in person (I'm based in Portsmouth, Hampshire) or via Zoom.
I offer a free initial 50 minute Zoom session so that we can meet and you can ask me any questions and my counselling contract.
It is important that you work with a counsellor with whom you feel comfortable and who you trust and this is why I do not charge for the initial session.
The initial session is an opportunity for us to meet, for you to ask me questions, to decide if you would like to work with me and to discuss and access needs you may have to attend counselling.
I will not ask you to fill in any assessments or questionnaires. However, if there is something that you feel I need to know before we agree to work together, please tell me in the initial session.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Level 5 Diploma in Person Centred Counselling (University of Middlesex)
- Level 4 Certificate in Counselling Skills (University of Chichester)
- I am a registered member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. (Membership no. 393927)
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I seek to be non-judgmental in all my practice, this includes kink and polyamory/ non-monogamy.
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£45.00 - £50.00
Free initial online session
Additional information
Initial online session is free.
I charge £45 for weekly sessions and £50 for fortnightly sessions.
When I work
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Further information
I recognise that our society comprises complex webs of privilege and discrimination which impact on individuals' experiences, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in very subtle ways. Whatever your identity and experience, I seek to treat all clients with respect and be fully accountable and to educate myself should I not live up to my ideals of equality and inclusion.
