Liessa Callaghan
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
If you are going through difficulties in your life, or are experiencing distressing thoughts or emotions, counselling may be right for you.
It takes courage to seek support when you have been wounded by current or past events. It can feel easier to bury these feelings and hope that they will go away. However, feelings find a way to be expressed if we do not acknowledge them and can lead to mental health difficulties such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, panic attacks, low self-esteem, and other symptoms of distress.
Alternatively, you may be going through life-defining events such as becoming a parent, divorce, the menopause, relocating, or bereavement and just need some time and space to process what this means to you.
You may feel anxious about reaching out to someone to share your concerns and you may be wondering what counselling it is about, and how it could help you. Counselling can be an important step in the process of coming to terms with difficult experiences and emotions. I am here to work with you using a confidential, empathic, non-judgmental, and reflective approach.
Working together, we will explore whatever issues are important to you and I will support you with understanding and processing your feelings. My aim is to assist you with developing an awareness and understanding of yourself, your relationships, and your circumstances so that you can make changes that lead to a more fulfilling and satisfying life.
We will look at your current circumstances and relationships, but may also reflect on past experiences, as these can shape how we relate to others in the present. This process can be useful as a method to shed light on unhelpful thought patterns and beliefs about ourselves, that could be holding us back from reaching our potential. Becoming aware of these patterns gives us the power to move on and make positive changes, to fit in with our lives as we wish them to be now.
Training, qualifications & experience
Counselling training:
Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling (Distinction) validated by the University of Greenwich
Counselling experience:
Counselling Lecturer at Nescot College
Third Age Counselling - Counsellor
Sutton Counselling - Counsellor
Lucy Rayner Foundation - Counsellor
I am a registered member of The British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and adhere to their ethical framework.
I am fully insured, registered with the ICO, and my work is overseen by an experienced supervisor.
I have an enhanced DBS.
I regularly undertake continuous professional development.
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
£65.00 per session
Free initial telephone session
Additional information
Whether you have had experience of counselling or are seeking it for the first time, it is important that you work with a counsellor you feel comfortable talking to. I therefore offer a free 15 minute consultation by telephone, before we meet for the first time, so that we can discuss how I can help you and you can ask questions.
I work with adults and young people aged 16 onwards and provide both long- and short-term counselling. I work both online or face to face and have rooms in Epsom and Banstead, which are easily accessible by public transport or car.
When I work
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I am available Monday to Thursday.
Further information
Creative Counselling as a therapeutic tool
Creative counselling combines talking therapy with creative techniques. This can help you to communicate thoughts and feelings you find difficult to put into words.
Depending on what feels most comfortable for you, creative techniques can include working with:
Sand
photos/symbols/pictures
Painting/drawing