Joanna Willow
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hi, I'm Jo. I offer a calm and non-judgemental therapeutic space to explore who you are, your distress and worries, and what you are struggling with. I work in a way informed by how the mind and body responds to trauma, threat, anxiety and stress.
What you're struggling with How you feel about yourself and being in a post-traumatic state can affect your psychological well-being, ability to cope day to day, and how you relate to others. It can be lonely and distressing not feeling valued, heard or acknowledged. Rather than being free to be yourself and live more fully, you feel restricted, conflicted, and on edge, wanting change and relief.
You might swing from feeling like you're either too much or not enough or find it difficult to set boundaries, thus neglecting and not communicating your needs while pleasing others. It can be difficult to recognise or express your feelings.
How I can help I can help you manage the distress you experience now, which may involve beginning to recover from trauma/PTSD/c-PTSD. This may include shame, anger, flashbacks, and panic attacks. It can impact socially, and on identity, mood and emotional regulation, and managing your thoughts and self-beliefs.
In processing and unpicking the difficult processes you experience now you may gain new awareness and fresh perspectives to help you to make changes to your life and improve your mental health and relationships. While therapy is not a magic fix and can take work and time, it can be life-changing. Time and space for you to freely explore what's making life difficult in a warm, supportive, and private therapeutic environment.
Who I work with I work with adults of all ages (18+) and genders, though especially with issues that affect young adults (under 40), and those who are neurodivergent, e.g. ADHD, autism (known or suspected).
I have significant experience working with men and with those who have survived sexual and emotional abuse/ neglect in childhood, been sexually assaulted or had difficult life, attachment and family experiences. I work with issues that relate to trauma, accessing emotions, dissociation, insecure attachment, anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts/OCD, low self-esteem and self-confidence, suicidal thoughts, and difficulties socially (including social anxiety) in relationships and with family.
I offer a non-judgemental and anti-discriminatory space, and I am LGBTQ+ friendly, poly-friendly and to those who practice ethically non-monogamous (ENM) relationship structures.
Training, qualifications & experience
My training and experience I am a qualified psychotherapist, having been awarded an MSc in Person-Centred & Experiential Psychotherapy in Sept 2022 after completing a 4 year UKCP-accredited psychotherapy training programme at the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute (SPTI). I have been in private practice since 2021 and volunteered/worked at counselling charities in Leicester as a counsellor between 2019-2022.
I am a UKCP Full Clinical Registered Psychotherapist and on the BACP register as a Registered Member.
I hold professional indemnity insurance and adhere to BACP, UKCP and SPTI ethical guidelines. I have a GDPR policy outlining how your data will be managed and I am registered with the ICO.
How I work In Person-Centred and Experiential Therapy you set the agenda and I draw on my training, qualities and experience as a person to be able to sit with you in your 'stuff', working honestly and collaboratively in a style that is exploratory and conversational. I will prize, validate and understand you from your perspective, respecting your autonomy and drive to grow and change.
Through the therapeutic relationship and talking together, I work therapeutically to hear and acknowledge your experiences. We will look at your processes of how it is being you and how you interact in the world.
I pay close attention to how you are in the 'here and now' of the therapy space, to my process of being with you in what you are exploring, and how I hear and feel it in me to make sense of you. As a therapist I have a richly visual and verbal mind, which I use to respond intuitively and spontaneously based on what arises as we talk, to conceptualise the uniqueness of your experience and processes within you.
Member organisations
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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.
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
Photos & videos
Fees
£55.00 per session
When I work
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I am taking on new adult clients (age 18 +) with availability on week days.
Further information
The initial session I offer an initial session to start to build a picture of what you are seeking from therapy, whether I can meet those needs and if we might establish a trusting working relationship.
I aim to give you an opportunity to experience what it would be like to work with me so you can make a decision on whether to continue with any further sessions on an ongoing basis.
With a safe, trusting relationship being at the heart of therapy and the importance of finding the right 'fit', I welcome your call or email to begin this process and to discuss booking an initial session in my room in Leicester, online or by phone. Initial sessions are chargeable at the usual session rate.
The therapy space I work from my private, comfortable therapy room in Leicester city centre which is spacious, light and airy. It is a space where you can attend counselling that is discreet and confidential, close to the train station, bus and cycle routes and car parking. It is located on the 1st floor, accessible by stairs only. There are toilet and hand-washing facilities.
