About me
Hello and welcome to my page. Thank you for visiting at what I realise may be a challenging time for you.
I am a qualified therapeutic counsellor supporting both individuals and couples who are anxious or grieving, frightened, lonely, struggling with sadness or in distress. I offer a warm and genuine welcome, an open heart and mind and time & space to be with you, to be alongside you for as much time as you need. After working as a paramedic for over 10 years I decided I wanted to retrain as a counsellor. I have continued to work for the NHS and find that people can be surprisingly resilient with the right emotional support.
I will listen carefully and seek to help understand your situation. In life, we cannot change events that have already happened, but we can change how we feel about them. I believe that every one of us has the capacity to change and become the best they can be. I will offer you the opportunity to safely share your thoughts, your anxieties and your fears so that we may work together as you find your way to a calmer and more hopeful way of being. I provide a kind and confidential space to help you cope with your distress and pain.
It takes equal parts courage and despair to finally bring a couple to counselling. When you're feeling too distressed or stuck, it can be too hard to think and find a way through on your own. Couples therapy provides a different kind of thinking space, one that attends to damaged communication, and works to bring about the relief of being heard.
Engaging in counselling is an act of courage and can be a rewarding and healing experience.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Certificate in Couples Counselling (Manchester Psychotherapy Foundation)
- Level 5 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
- Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
- Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies
- Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills
- BA (Hons) Degree in Social Sciences
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
£60.00 - £70.00
Additional information
I offer face to face sessions for both individuals and couples in my garden office in Westwood (just outside Bradford-on-Avon), but also telephone and online sessions via Zoom.
I ask clients to contact me for a free initial assessment session, which is your chance to tell me in confidence, what has led you to consider counselling; it is also an opportunity for us both to get to know each other and to see how you feel about working with me. If you decide to continue, I will offer you weekly sessions in which you are again, free to be entirely open and honest in the knowledge that whatever you say is confidential.
