Jo Cook
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This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
You’re hoping to find the right therapist for you, so allow me tell you a truth about therapy: just as you are unique, each therapist is unique. Whenever I have chosen a therapist for myself, I have valued a relationship where I can build trust, and where I can be brave, but also where I can feel distressed or alone and not too scared to say so. Yes I’ve had therapy too, several times and for different reasons: I’ve felt how it transforms lives and I know it’s challenging work. These are some of the guiding feelings I always keep close to me as I work. I listen carefully so I can be responsive and sensitive to you in the moment.
I won't fit you into a rigid, single, type of therapy, I fit the therapy to each client. When I chose my training, I looked for thorough and deep approach that was also flexible and adaptive. Relational, integrative working puts a strong, safe, alliance between therapist and client at the heart of all work. Specific methods, if relevant, come later.
Taking the first step to ask for help can feel daunting and uncertain, but it's the beginning of change. I have supported adults of many ages and stages of life, facing many different challenges. Together we can build a therapeutic relationship that will allow you to face whatever challenges you, move past it and onwards into a brighter, lighter future.
Training, qualifications & experience
I began my journey towards becoming a therapist with a BSc(Hons) in Psychology from Birmingham University. I went on to work in marketing, advertising and public relations. Later I moved into Local Government before becoming a senior civil servant in the Department of Health where I worked on policies to do with GPs and Primary Care services including mental health provision.
My career took a welcome change of direction when I had children and took time out to train as a yoga teacher. I did years of voluntary counselling and training work with a domestic violence charity, and latterly I trained as Counsellor and Psychotherapist, I gained a Postgraduate distinction in Counselling and Psychotherapy from Leeds Beckett University in 2019. In 2023 I became an Accredited Member of the BACP, and I was selected to sit on their Private Practice Division Executive.
My training focussed on a relational approach. This means I work guided by the belief that the single most important thing that achieves change is the relationship between me and you. This isn’t blind faith, scientific study after study, across all types of therapy, and across decades has found that the single most important factor is the relationship between the two (or three in couples counselling) people in the therapy room. Integratively means that I won’t try and fit you into a fixed type of therapy, I will listen to you and collaboratively we will create the solutions that fit your unique needs. As things progress your needs might change, that’s fine, I’ll listen and we’ll adapt together.
I have specialist experience working with domestic abuse, recovering after difficult relationships and moving through life and work transitions.
So, I bring a variety of experience and professionalism to my work, but mostly I bring myself to meet you, person to person. That's where we'll begin and that's where we will return again and again, building a therapeutic relationship together that enables you to find your own way to move forward.
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.
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 - £80.00
Free initial telephone session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
- £50 per session weekdays (ending before 4pm)
- £60 per session evenings (anything ending after 4pm)
- £80 per session weekends (weekend appointments are very limited availability)
When I work
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Available appointment slots change frequently, so please get in touch with your requirements
