Julie-Anne Baker
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hi there! My names Julie-Anne but many will know me by the business name 'Bake-Well Therapy'. I'm a qualified Pluralistic/Integrative counsellor from the University of South Wales, and a creative group facilitator currently offering therapeutic baking groups to organisations and charities. My therapeutic identity is also based on my lived experience of being autistic, neurodivergent and a young/unpaid carer. As well as having experienced the benefits of counselling and therapeutic creative work myself!
So what does being a pluralistic counsellor actually mean?
Pluralistic counsellors work from the belief that each client is unique and that different therapeutic methods and approaches will help different individuals at different points in their journey. We also value client perspectives and preferences and collaborate with you to create a tailored therapy to you. Essentially, this means, I work from a client-centred perspective in a highly collaborative manner, and I consider you the expert in your life, and work with your preferences whilst bringing my knowledge and training to deliver the best support for you.
What therapies do I work with?
I integrate a range of therapies together, primarily person-centred therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and third-wave behavioural therapies; specifically acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and compassion focused therapy (CFT). Additionally, I often work with transactional analysis (TA), mindfulness and creative techniques. In other words, sometimes the therapy I offer is to provide a space where you are heard unconditionally and able to rest, other times it involves gentle challenges and goal-oriented work, and other times may involve deeper exploratory work depending on what you need.
Who do I work with?
I work with children (7+), teenagers and adults (young adults to older adults). I work with individuals who feel stuck, anxious and ruminate (overthink) and want to feel safer and more secure. I also work with people to learn the foundations and psychoeducation surrounding mental health, better wellbeing and those exploring neurodivergence. I work with many individuals to foster a more compassionate and accepting perspective in response to anxiety, depression, low self-esteem or unhelpful patterns of behaviour instead of living in guilt and shame. Additionally, I work with both short and long-term clients to provide a solution focused/goal orientated approach and/or provide deeper exploratory work, at a gentle and safe pace, led by you, with an emphasis from me on elements of compassion focused and acceptance work.
I have a keen interest in working with clients experiencing disabilities, who are neurodivergent, or unpaid and/or young carers. This passion comes directly from my lived experience, as well as a breadth of previous professional experience in the voluntary sector, as a counsellor and as a support worker. I'm also passionate about working with children, young people and caregivers and have a broad range of experience working with this client group as a counsellor, support worker, playworker, voluntarily and in school settings. I have also enjoyed working with teenagers and adults who are exploring or have recently received an autism or ADHD diagnosis. I have also previously volunteered as a counsellor within a Christian counselling charity as well as working with clients with a range of faith based, spiritual or existential beliefs and often connect well therapeutically with this client group who are looking to incorporate and explore this area of themselves whilst exploring counselling.
I love creative work and when wanted will often incorporate this into my practice. I currently work with organisations/charities to facilitate therapeutic baking groups designed to promote connection, mindfulness and psychoeducation and can integrate sensory based mindfulness approaches into individual sessions. These groups are also run as ad-hoc events throughout the year; perhaps you are unsure about counselling or want to organise workshops for people you work with/support and maybe this service is for you!
I primarily work in offices/therapy rooms in Rogerstone, near Cardiff Central, and St Nicholas (Newport, Cardiff and the Vale). I also work online and when working with organisations work in the surrounding areas.
Training, qualifications & experience
- BA (Hons) Counselling and Therapeutic Practice - First Class Honours - 2024
- Facilitating Therapeutic Groups - Creative Counsellors - 2024
- ASIST Suicide Intervention Training - 2024
- CYP Suicide First Aid - 2024
- Makaton level 1+2 and Makaton with singing - 2022
- Playwork OCN - Level 1 - 2019
I have previously worked as a support worker for a number of years for children and young people with complex disabilities, neurodivergence and additional learning needs (from 0-18). As well as working alongside the families/carers to provide support, and I am currently a personal assistant.
I have been a volunteer counsellor in a schools counselling service, low-cost counselling charity and in a Christian charity offering both long and short-term counselling, in-person, online and via telephone.
I have volunteered in a number of settings with children and young people for a number of years such as with local young carers services, play services and in scouting.
I have also been involved in a number of advocacy and research projects relating to the themes of young carers, young people, mental health/wellbeing and neurodivergence. I hold myself to high standards to continuously learn from diversity and social justice movements and to listen to the experiences of those that are different to mine.
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 - £60.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I work within a sliding scale approach to pricing meaning I have set pricing for specific locations and a limited number of concessions available.
I offer a free 15 minute telephone consultation to see if we are the right fit for each other; if no time listed suits please arrange with me directly via email
Please check your junk mail for correspondence!
When I work
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Availability changes dependent on location and times. I can do early morning online sessions (before working hours) dependent on availability upon request
Further information
Interested in working together?
You can book a free 15 minute telephone consultation at the top of this page. Alternatively you can use my listed contact details to ask any questions and/or arrange a consultation for a different time (however, due to my current working schedule I check my phone on an ad-hoc basis so may not respond to calls immediately, if this is the case please leave a voicemail or send me an email) . A telephone consultation is used to briefly explore why you want counselling and the way in which I work to see if we are a potential match.
What happens in our first session?
Either after a consultation or if you opt to book a session straight away our first session will be used to start developing our therapeutic relationship. We will explore the counselling contract, what your preferences and expectations are for counselling, collaborate on what therapeutic approach may be best for you and begin to explore the area you would like to bring to counselling.
Once we have completed the contract, the session and any future sessions are yours to be used in whatever way we both agree and that you would find helpful. Sessions are at your pace and the therapeutic relationship and trust can take time to build. Therefore, if we continue working together I recommend attending 4-6 sessions minimum.
