Judith Vaughan

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MBACP (reg), Psychotherapeutic Counsellor
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

Bristol BS6
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I work with individuals and with couples. Whether you seek therapy for relationship issues, depression, grief, anxiety or trauma, my relational approach is responsive, collaborative and enabling. I've worked in NHS settings and private practice, developing an ever deepening experience of how to work creatively and compassionately with people in their times of trial.

Feeling out of step with life
As often as not, it is an experience of change, loss or transition which throws people and relationships off balance. These events can inflame unresolved grief or trauma or simply place you way outside your usual coping strategies. Such times can trigger behaviour, thoughts, feelings and states of mind which are alarming and debilitating. This can lead to a sense of separation or isolation, a loss of self, a feeling of being out of step with life and relationship.

What is my experience?
A general practice in both the NHS and my private work has given me experience in helping people alleviate many troubling patterns and symptoms while enabling a better understanding of what lies beneath the present difficulty.

What my experience has taught me is that long-term relief from mental, emotional, and much physical distress comes from an holistic approach, an approach which addresses a person's full experience.

It is when the focus of our work broadens beyond outcomes and the mindset of symptom and cause, towards an invitation of being met fully as a person ... that's when a process of deep acceptance, change and growth becomes possible.

Finding the right therapist

When you decide to look for help or support, the process of figuring out what you need and who to turn to can be confusing and potentially overwhelming. No matter how low you're feeling, you have every right to set your expectations high and to take time to find the therapist who is a good fit for you.

Spending time browsing a few websites will give you an idea of the way different counsellors work and who resonates with you. Listen to your gut as much as your rational enquiry.

Getting started

On my website www.judithvaughan.co.uk, under the heading 'A Few Questions', I describe the steps involved in getting started, if you decide you'd like to explore working with me.

What does therapy involve?

We will talk. I will listen. My relational, collaborative approach germinates a different kind of conversation, where hurtful, repetitive patterns are illuminated and alternatives explored. But it's more than words - we will find all the ways you need to articulate or be with your experience, using breath, somatic awareness, metaphor, symbol and creative practice.

This work is often described as 'talking therapy', I think 'communication therapy' is a more pertinent term. Some of the most powerful work happens when we 'press pause' on the talking and the thinking and pay full attention to your deeper experience of being. And as you begin to notice yourself with a growing honesty and compassionate curiosity, both in and between our sessions, the work deepens and strengthens.

It is powerful and enabling to have an experience of being truly listened to. It stimulates a process of listening more carefully to yourself and to others and this is how profound change begins.

What’s universally helpful is being heard, realizing you are normal, recognizing you’re not alone, recovering real hope.

What is my approach?
In therapy language, I summarise my approach as relational and integrative, underpinned by humanistic values. In more everyday terms, what does this mean?

'Relational' means I believe in the potency of a collaborative and creative therapeutic relationship which is attuned, honest and involved. It also points to my belief that everything happens in relationship, it is the inter-relatedness of life and our capacity to connect to it and stay with it, which liberates us from so much of the exile and isolation which is the root cause of human suffering.

'Integrative' means I combine an understanding of developmental psychology with methods and ideas from different but compatible psychotherapeutic models. This means I work flexibly, creatively and responsively.  There are no prescriptions and no assumptions. The relationship we develop points towards the most effective way for our work to unfold.

'Humanistic' expresses my commitment to the inherent wholeness of every person, so I explore challenges and struggles as a natural part of being human; I don’t see labels, diagnosis or disorders as the starting point of the conversation.

Training, qualifications & experience

My core training is integrative, drawing on humanistic, psychodynamic and behavioural models.  My ongoing training focuses on deepening my understanding of the role of relationship in the process of healing and personal development.

I am particularly interested in how people hold and express trauma and how experiences of loss and trauma manifest in relationships and across generations. Much of my work addresses attachment patterns, developmental trauma, complex loss and delayed grieving.

I work a great deal with people who are wrestling with challenges to their identity following major life changes. This includes new parents; chronic and life changing illness; end of life; menopause; bereavement; sexuality; adult consideration of autism.

  • MBACP-accredited Post Graduate Diploma Integrative Counselling
  • Centre for Relational Couples Therapy - 'Working with Couples' core training
  • NICABM Trauma Master Series
  • MBACP Registered
  • In private practice in Devon & Bristol since 2013
  • Senior member of Clinical Team at ARC (www.arcaxminster.org), an independent GP referred community counselling service.
  • 20+ years commercial experience working with organisational change, team development and identity.

Member organisations

BACP
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP)

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

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
Accredited Register Scheme

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.

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

Fees

£60.00 - £90.00

Concessions offered for

  • Students
  • Trainee counsellors

Additional information

£60 per 50 minute session for individuals

£90 per 60 minute session for couples

Payment for sessions is monthly in advance, unless otherwise agreed.

I offer a no obligation assessment session which is only chargeable if we commit to ongoing work.

When I work

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Night

Further information

My private practice is at my home in BS6 in a ground floor room which is private and spacious.

I also work online using Zoom, telephone or email correspondence.

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone
Home visits

Types of client

Young people
Adults
Older Adults
Couples
Judith Vaughan
Judith Vaughan