About me
Hello, my name is Karen. I offer a trusting, warm and open environment to work therapeutically with you and share a space which provides you with an opportunity to talk in confidence and without judgement. I understand that at times, life can put pressure and strain on anyone and we can struggle to have clarity of thought when things become overbearing.
Working with a psychotherapist/counsellor is a helpful experience when you are facing difficulties that may be impacting on your life, relationships or wellbeing. I can offer you support to work through those difficulties. I am an EMDR (Eye Movement, Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapist) Relate trained Couple Therapist, integrative counsellor. I have experience in working therapeutically with couples, individuals and children.
My approach combines psychodynamic, systemic, mentalization, mindfulness, EMDR (eye movement, desensitisation and reprocessing) and play therapy for children, this means that I can draw from a range of different types of therapies to best support you the client(s) to understand your current situation and how this may be impacting on you. Together, we can explore how you can learn to accept things or make adjustments to move forwards.
I work with individuals and couples for many different reasons, my approach is to draw on the modality which suits your needs best, in a confidential, calm, empathetic, sensitive and respectful way.
The support I can offer, provides a route towards processing trauma, loss, building coping strategies, working through difficulty with trust, self-esteem, connection, dysfunction, hurt and anger.
When we want something to change, it can help to safely turn towards the feelings, to process and unpack them, work towards alternative coping mechanisms.
Our sessions can be somewhere to do this. Using your own inner resources and the frame of our work together, building a route through relationship and emotional distress. Counselling can provide us with an external resource too, to aid us in tapping into our inner strengths and resources. Sessions offer a chance to reflect, to consider alternative perspectives and to try out alternative coping strategies.
What To Expect
After assessment and contracting*, in our sessions together, we will start with a chance to talk through how you're feeling, what's been difficult and how you'd like things to be. This helps to focus our work and make good use of the time that we have**.
You may want to look at what has come before or keep the focus on how things will change in the future.
We can look at a range of approaches for working with individual issues and relationship distress. This might include explorations of communication patterns, working through the complexities of family relationships and history or unpacking thoughts around self-belief and esteem.
Our lives centre around the quality of our relationships and it's here that we, together, could make a difference.
[*Assessment is about being sure what you are looking for matches the competencies I can offer. Contracting outlines what you expect from me and what I expect as a counsellor in return].
[**Following assessment, it may be in the interest of clients to make an onward referral, for the best possible care and support]
Thank you for reading more about me, if you think I may be the right therapist for you or have any questions please call for a chat or email any questions to me.
If I am not the right person for you I wish you well in finding support. I would encourage you to speak to somebody you can trust to help understand your difficulties.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications
- Diploma in Relationship Counselling (Relate)
- IAPT Couple Therapy for Depression (Tavistock Relations)
- Mentalization-based Therapy for Parenting under Pressure (Tavistock Relations)
- EMDR Therapy Training
- BA Hons Degree
- Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People
- Mindfulness Practitioner Teacher Training course (Professional listing on UK Network of Mindfulness Teachers)
- Award in Mental Health Awareness
- Helping Skills (Counselling Skills)
Training
- Mental Health First Aid (Mind)
- Understanding Sex & Porn Addiction
- Working with Shame
- Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) (Mind)
- Mindfulness Practitioner Training Programme
- Child Protection & Safeguarding
- Domestic Violence and Abuse
- Mental Health: Awareness
- Suicidal Risk and Support
- Foundation of Infant Loss Counsellor training
- Counselling with a Sexual Focus
- Emotionally Focussed Therapy
- Online Counselling Using Digital Technology
- Play Therapy Skills and Principles
- GDPR and personal data handling
- Health Advocate training
Professional Bodies
- Accredited Member of British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
- Member of Institute of Family Therapy (IAFT)
- Listed on UK Network of approved Mindfulness Teachers
- Chartered Member of the institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD)
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Couple therapy for depression CTfD
EMDR Therapy
Mindfulness
Mentalization Based Therapy
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£60.00 - £75.00
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
Counselling Fees
Face to face, Webcam/ phone counselling fees
Individual Counselling - £60 for the Initial Consultation, and thereafter £60 for each session.
EMDR Psychotherapy - £60 for the Initial Consultation, and thereafter £75 for each session.
Couple Phone/Webcam Counselling - £60 for the Initial Consultation, and thereafter £70 for each session.
The duration of each session is 50 minutes. I kindly ask that you pay for each session 24 hours in advance by bank transfer or by cash at the start of each session, cancellations are required 24 hours in advance.
When I work
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | |||||||
| Afternoon | |||||||
| Evening | |||||||
| Night |
In person appointments in Yarm and Hartlepool are available Tuesday - Thursday. Remote appointments may be available via Zoom outside of these hours, please let me know your requirements.
Further information
Along with my private practice, I have experience of working within primary care settings as a psychotherapist/counsellor working with individuals who are experiencing difficulties which impact on their wellbeing.
I have had a private practice since 2017, have extensive experience working as lead counsellor in a staff counselling service within the NHS providing EMDR trauma therapy and charity sector as a Relationship Therapist, working with couples experiencing difficulties in their relationship. I also offer specialist work with couples where one or both partners are experiencing depression and with couples where there is high levels of disregulation and they share concern about the impact of this on their children. I have worked on a voluntarily basis for Place2Be in primary school, counselling children on a long term basis.
All of my work is supervised and I work within BACP ethical guidelines, and within the ethical standards of UK network for Mindfulness Teachers.
As a psychotherapist/counsellor I am open, warm, develop a trust and space which can be used to share their concerns or fear and I am committed to self-development and self-reflexivity.
I am a mindfulness teacher, listed on the UK Network of approved Mindfulness practitioners. I deliver Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme to private groups and businesses and I work in collaboration with ManHealth CIC, a local organisation supporting Men experiencing depression and mental health challenges.
