Julia Nussbaum

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she/her
MBACP. Dip.Couns
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

location_on Ashburton TQ13 & Exeter EX4
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I am an experienced Psychotherapeutic Counsellor working face to face in Exeter and also online. I can support you with a broad range of issues and offer a safe, warm and  empathic space for you to explore whatever it is that brings you to seek support at this time. I particularly enjoy psychological and relational depth and bring this into my work when that is what is invited by you. We will always go at your own pace, and I will meet you where you are.

I am passionate about inner work, and completely committed to it within myself first and foremost so I come to our sessions with a deep awareness of myself and my own process, and so can journey deeply with others with safety and without judgement.

I am willing to accompany you to places old and new, dark and light, in acceptance of what you bring and where you are at.

Finding a Counsellor that you resonate with is so important when considering beginning a counselling relationship. The way in which client and counsellor relate to one another is fundamental to the work of counselling and how beneficial and healing it is.

Our first session would be an introductory session which would give you an opportunity to meet me, to explore some of what brings you to counselling to see how it feels for you, and if I am the right person for you to work with. 

Sessions would be weekly, usually at the same time each week (with flexibility when needed). Sessions are 1 hour.

Counselling is often sought when experiencing a crisis, depression, anxiety, a loss of some sort or relationship difficulties.

There are different levels of counselling. Short-term counselling can be helpful to address any number of issues and help find some balance when life feels unstable, chaotic, stressful or unmanageable. A weekly session can have a huge impact on your life, and enable you to find ways in which to deal with your particular circumstances and feel more energised, empowered and supported. Sometimes the extra support, to talk things through, express hurts or difficulties and to feel heard and understood is all that is needed.

Longer term counselling addresses deeper aspects of being and relating (although it doesn't have to). A few examples are;

  • What makes me, Me? Or you, You
  • How is my relationship with Myself?
  • How do I relate to others and how has this been shaped?
  • What impact does my way of relating have on my life and relationships?
  • What influence does my family history/cultural context and society have on my current life choices and relationships?
  • Am I choosing the kind of life I want, or am I being led by external expectations?
  • How can I live a life that is true to myself?
  • Who is my true self?

These are challenging inquiries, rather than questions with fixed answers.

This list is not a requisite for longer term work, but longer term work enables a depth of exploration that will put you in touch with this inner inquiry, and enable a shift in the way in which you navigate through life; beyond conditioned patterns and expectations from others towards a way of being and relating that feels true to You.

Counselling is hard to pin down. Hard to describe. There are as many differing ways that counselling can work as there are people on the planet or stars in the sky- its personal.

Below is a more in depth description of aspects of counselling and the way that I perceive it. Read it if you feel to, or better still, book an introductory session and come and meet me and decide from there!

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
― Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy

I have experience working therapeutically with primary age children in school, as well as 1 to 1 with adults of all ages. I trained within a Psycho-spiritual model and utilise a broad range of approaches depending on what you as a client want and how you work. I am client led but not passively. I bring a passion for depth and inner work and a compassion for the paradoxes of the human condition. I work relationally. I feel a therapeutic relationship is a powerful tool for gaining insight, self awareness and giving you more sense of your autonomy and ability to respond to your circumstances with a sense of choice rather than habit or conditioning.

I would describe my counselling style as warm and empathic. As a client who comes for counselling, you will feel you are in a safe space where you will be listened to, respected and honoured for who you are. The way that I approach counselling is largely Person Centred, although my training was eclectic including working with aspects of Psychosynthesis, Mindfulness and Transpersonal therapy. I trained within a psychospiritual framework which encompasses the whole being of a Person- Mind, Body, Spirit and Soul.

Carl Rogers (quoted above) was the founder of Person Centred counselling, which aspires to provide the conditions in which you can feel met, heard and accepted in a way that perhaps you haven't before.

I offer unconditional acceptance of where you are. Not to dismiss how hard or painful where you find yourself may be, but to enable a way to be with rather than struggle against whatever you are experiencing. I appreciate that mostly we just want the painful stuff to stop, and counselling does have an immediate effect in terms of feeling held, heard and supported, it also helps build resilience to bare what life brings to our door.

I bring myself into the counselling work. By that I mean I will be authentic in the way I meet you. I don't employ a particular technique or theory and apply it but rather view counselling as a space for two people to meet in a way that can enable intimacy and a therapeutic relationship to become possible. As trust develops the possibility for transformation becomes available.

There is no pressure from me to go anywhere you do not wish to go.

I feel I hold a space for both the light and the dark. There is something of my counselling style that provides warmth, nourishment, depth and patience.

A seed germinates in the dark, beneath the earth. The process of sprouting from seed form into something transformed requires a breaking, a cracking open before the new shoot continues its journey toward the sun.

A flower blooms and becomes a fragrant thing of beauty before dropping its petals which return to the earth. No one stage of this process is any more or less vital or desired than the other. They are an interdependent cycle. We too move in cycles, sometimes in bloom, sometimes in decay and everything else in between.

The aim of counselling is not just to bloom and become a thing of beauty, but to become aware of, accept and enrich all of that which creates life. I welcome all aspects of this cycle of creation.

Counselling can profoundly change the way you feel about yourself, how you treat yourself and thus how you experience your life.

Training, qualifications & experience

I trained at Sweet Track Counselling Centre in Glastonbury UK and hold a Level 5 Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling. I trained over a period of 8 years from 2011 onwards. I am in personal therapy and have regular Supervision. My commitment to my own inner work underpins all my therapeutic work with clients.

I have experience working with a broad age range of clients from 7-80+

I have worked for over 2 years with an organisation called Place2be that provides counselling to Primary School age children. This was incredibly rewarding and taught me a huge amount about how quickly young people respond to a loving presence, and got me particularly interested in how much more difficult it seems to be for adults to allow themselves to be impacted by the presence of another human being. Exploring these defences is something I am particularly interested in in my work.

I have worked with adults with a range of presenting issues including bereavement, depression, self esteem or lack of self worth and relationship and relational issues.

Most of my work has been more long term, either weekly or twice weekly if required.

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

Areas of counselling I deal with

Therapies offered

Fees

£45.00 - £60.00

Concessions offered for

  • check_circle Keyworkers
  • check_circle Students
  • check_circle Trainee counsellors
  • check_circle Refugees

Additional information

I offer sessions on a sliding scale from £45-£60 per hour.

When I work

I am available between 10am and 3pm weekdays with flexibility for some evening sessions. Can discuss this at the first session.

Ashburton, Newton Abbot, TQ13

The Practice Rooms, 15-16 Castle Street, Exeter, Devon, EX4 3PT

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone

Types of client

Young people (13-17)
Adults (25-64)
Older Adults (65+)