Karen Whittaker
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hi, my name is Karen, and I am grateful that you have taken a little time to discover a bit about me.
I am a person-centred counsellor and can offer you a safe, confidential space in which you can talk about and explore the things that are troubling you. I understand that it is sometimes difficult to talk about personal and sensitive issues, but I am trained to listen to you and provide the safe space you need to explore what is happening in your own time.
If you are feeling anxious, confused, overwhelmed, or just unclear about what is happening then I can provide counselling that can give you the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what is happening and why.
I am a fully qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with experience of working with many kinds of problems. I know some clients may find it helpful to explore their past, their childhood experiences, relationships with parents, siblings, family members or other significant figures in their lives, to help shed light on their current problems, difficult relationships, or unhelpful beliefs about themselves.
I provide a professional therapeutic service that allows you to explore positive solutions at your own pace in a non-judgmental environment. I believe the therapeutic relationship between client and counsellor is key to the counselling process and I will support you throughout by assisting you in finding your own unique way of managing or changing a situation.
I offer short-term work as well as long-term psychotherapy. Our initial appointment can give us the opportunity to discuss what will work best for you and during this free 20-minute introductory consultation we can discuss how we can work together, and I can answer any questions you have regarding counselling.
How Counselling can help
There are traumatic times in our lives when our normal coping strategies fail us, when situations overwhelm us, perhaps a bereavement, losing a job, relationship breakdown, change in circumstances, and we need help to make sense of it. It may be that we notice we are going round the same cycle over and over and wonder how it happens, that we become anxious or depressed and demotivated.
Counselling can help us to get a new perspective and to find our own way forward.
Alternatively, it may be that you have found time to devote to personal development and growth and there are issues you wish to clarify or discuss.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist (Dip. HE in Person-Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy, Glyndwr University). I am a Registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and follow their ethical and professional code of practice.
I have over 30 years of experience working face to face with people, including those suffering from domestic abuse, depression, vulnerable to grooming, and victims of crime. My lifelong interest in the people behind the issues they are facing led me to become to a qualified person-centred counsellor.
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 - £70.00
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Free 20 minute initial consulatation
50 minute therapy session £50
50 minute couples therapy session £70
When I work
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Wekend sessions will be considered on request.
Further information
I work face-to-face, online and via the telephone.
Sessions are changed at £50 per session.
I also offer a free twenty minute introductory call to see if you would like to work with me.