Lal Hitchcock MA, Dip HIP
About me
A qualified psychotherapist and member of UKCP, I have been working in private practice since 2010. Located very near the centre of Bridport, I am available for weekly fifty minute sessions. During the Covid 19 pandemic, I am happy to meet for an outside session on Conegar Hill (5 minutes' walk from my house) or walk with you on a variety of level or hilly walks within a close radius of town. Alternatively, we can meet virtually by phone, FaceTime or Skype.
With a background in the creative arts, I am open to exploring concerns and issues in a variety of ways.
My particular fields of interest are anxiety, depression, pregnancy, family or relationship issues, self esteem, realising creative potential, fear of mortality, loss and bereavement, climate-related anxiety and depression, and the after effects of boarding school.
Training, qualifications & experience
'Necessary Derangement: living & working in a changing field' with Steffi Bednarek
'Climate Breakdown in the Consulting Room' with Tree Staunton, Nov 2019
'Sleepwalking into the Anthropocene' UKCP Conference, Oct 2019 '
Working with Transgender Clients, with Lynda Quick, April/May 2018
UMOT (The Unmaking of Them) with Nick Duffell, Thurstine Basset & Nicola Miller, working with Boarding School Survivors 2017-2018
Psychosocial group co-facilitation, for the British Red Cross, The Verne Immigration Removal Centre, Portland, May - December 2016
Peer Support facilitation, Yeovil, Somerset (Chard W.A.T.CH Project) 2016
Self Management co-facilitation, Yeovil Somerset (Somerset Partnership NHS in collaboration with the W.A.T.CH. Project, Chard, Somerset) 2016
MA and Diploma in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, BCPC (Bath Centre for Psychotherapy & Counselling) 2010 - 2015
Mental Health placements: Rowan Ward, Yeovil, Somerset, and Chard W.A.T.CH Project, Chard, Somerset 2012/13
Cruse Bereavement Volunteer, 2010 - 2015
Foundation Year, Bath Centre for Psychotherapy & Counselling 2002/03
BA Hons in Fine Art (sculpture and printmaking) University of Northumbria 1975 -1978
Foundation Course, Winchester School of Art 1974/75
Member organisations
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.
UK Council for Psychotherapy
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
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.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Constipation and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
Gastrointestinal symptoms with no apparent physical cause
Loss of creativity/developing creative potential
Living with the after-effects of boarding school
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Availability
Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays: 9.00 - 6.00 incl.
Further information
Psychotherapy is not a quick fix, nor is it suited to everyone. To get the best out of therapy it's important to be able to reflect on how your past has shaped the person you are today, and to recognise some of the helpful patterns that have got you through life, as well as the unhelpful ones that hold you back and stop you reaching your potential. Though I can spot themes and patterns, so much of the 'work' is down to you, what you bring, (dreams, thoughts, images, sensations and feelings) and the connections you make.
Working long-term (months/years) rather than short term, allows me time to really get to know the way you approach things, your history, the characters in your life and what they mean to you. Therapy works best on a regular, weekly basis. This creates continuity. Many people come to therapy having experienced broken or inconsistent relationships, and the regularity of weekly therapy can be an introduction to a more consistent way of relating, enabling a mutual trust to develop between us, and ultimately between you and other people in your life.
I am especially interested in different ways of coping with loss, in particular death, bereavement and the climate crisis. I am a member of the Climate Psychology Alliance.
My research area has been the relationship between the gut and the psyche: how inexpressible or unacceptable thoughts, feelings and experiences are sometimes located in, and expressed by our bodies. Bringing these feelings to consciousness and articulating them can help to alleviate painful or embarrassing gastric symptoms.
As an artist, I am also concerned with blocks to creativity - what stops us from initiating a project, or completing what we have so nearly finished? Does making fulfill a therapeutic need, and if so, is this undermined by the loneliness that is so often a prerequisite for creativity?
