Lucy van Praag
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Welcome.
If you are a highly sensitive person seeking an experienced highly sensitive therapist you are in the right place.
What I have found is that whilst each person's experience is uniquely complex - there are certain recurring themes that often show up for people who recognise something of their own experience in the term ‘highly sensitive.’
- I feel things deeply. Sometimes I feel ‘too much’ as if I were walking around without skin.
- I have always felt ‘different’ in some deep way.
- There is something counter-cultural in my way of thinking.
- There can be some very painful questions that get thrown up regularly for me around worthiness and belonging.
If this is you I want you to know – I see you
Perhaps you have isolated yourself to some degree in your life or in some way played small because of your highly sensitive nature, but now you long for the deep connections that you thrive on.
Or perhaps you keep bravely putting yourself out there, and only you know the daily toll this takes on your sensitive nervous system.
Without the understanding relationships and nurturing environments that we need so badly many of us get caught in lives that don’t support us anywhere near fully and in the consequent cycles of creative blockages, anxiety, and depression that are natural symptoms of our unlived life.
Working with me:
As a therapist who knows the experience of high sensitivity from my own life I offer a safe and compassionate space for you to explore both the challenges that you are faced with and and the deep gifts in your nature.
In our one-to-one sessions you will have the opportunity to experience
- the healing power of being recognised and understood.
- taking a fresh look at your own story through the lens of high sensitivity.
- the experience of how profoundly healing it is when you learn that you CAN trust your highly attuned responses to life.
I am here to meet you right where you are. Just as you are.
All my one-to-one sessions are available both Online and by Telephone.
Client testimonial
"Right from the start I felt I was in safe hands with Lucy. I never knew what would come up for me. I was repeatedly amazed by the depth and gentleness of those sessions. It felt like with every one I got an extra piece back of myself."
In our work together you will have the opportunity to look freshly at yourself and your life story through the lens of high sensitivity.
Client testimonial
"I came to you after having tried other forms of counselling and psychotherapy that had never really helped me to get to the bottom of what was wrong. I had almost given up hope of being able to change. The work I have done with you has strengthened me and enriched my life".
The spirit that underpins and informs my work
I deeply believe that the world needs sensitive people and the gift of that sensitivity. I offer sessions Online and by Phone. For more information about this please email me.
You can find me on my own website at www.wholebodycounselling.com contact me to request a 50 minute complimentary consultation.
Client testimonial:
“Sensitive. Deep. Life changing.
From the word go you always helped me to get right to the heart of the matter.
I would recommend you in a heart-beat to anyone in need of support in their lives.”
Working together
How do Online and Telephone counselling sessions work?
They work very much like traditional face to face Counselling, providing a safe and confidential space in which issues that may be causing you concern or distress can be explored together.
We meet on a weekly basis Online or by Phone and I will hold that space for you for the duration of the time we contract to work together. (For Online meetings I use Zoom and will send you a private link to you by email just before our meeting).
I offer both shorter-term and longer-term open ended work. Please know you are welcome to book in for the 50 minute Complimentary consultation by clicking on contact me
Therapeutic Approach
I work within the Person-Centred Experiential approach (as a Person-Centred Counsellor and Focusing-Oriented therapist) which is informed by the understanding that each person is unique, and underlined by a profound faith in each individual’s innate capacity to heal from the inside out when met in a spirit of true respect and empathic valuing.
My work is supervised in accordance with the BACP ethical framework for good practice, by supervisors who are themselves accountable to the same regulating body. They act as an extra layer of support and insight for the work we do together, and serve to support me in my commitment to providing a service that is safe, ethical, and effective.
OTHER SERVICES I OFFER:
Guided Focusing sessions (a Mindfulness-based approach) online and by phone
Contact me to book in for a 50 minute complimentary consultation.
Client testimonial:
"I have found Focusing with Lucy to be one of the most embodying and deep practices
I have discovered."
You can contact me with ANY questions by email
Training, qualifications & experience
- Masters in Person-Centred Counselling, University of East Anglia.
- Post-Graduate Diploma in Person-Centred Counselling, Strathclyde University, Glasgow
- Focusing-Oriented Therapy, (Somatic therapy),The International Focusing Institute, New York, USA.
- Focusing Practitioner, The International Focusing Institute, New York, USA.
- Registered Counsellor with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP).
- Member of the International Association of Focusing-Oriented Therapists: an international network of Professional Focusing-Oriented Therapists and workshop leaders.
EXPERIENCE:
I have been offering counselling and therapy through my private practice since July 2013
I have extensive experience of working with highly sensitive people. I decided seven years ago to dedicate myself to working exclusively with HSP's.
Highly sensitive people tend to have highly sensitive bodies and minds.
If you are highly sensitive yourself you are both a deep thinker and a deeply feeling person.
As a highly sensitive therapist myself I am very attuned to this population. It is very recent that high sensitivity is starting to be understood as a form of neurodivergence. If you are highly sensitive then your nervous system is wired just a bit differently and hence you do have the experience again and again of perceiving and responding to stimuli and to life differently to many of the people around you. This extra sensitivity of yours brings challenges with it for sure, but also unusual gifts. The process that unfolds in the work we do together as experienced by my many clients is often self affirming and life changing.
I work within the Person-Centred Experiential approach. It is because I myself am highly sensitive that my way of bringing myself to the work I do with you is sensitive, gentle, grounded in deep listening and always client-led.
I have a background in bodywork which has evolved over time in to the work I do now which is a somatic therapy that centres and honours your bodily lived experience.
Areas of special interest: Identity. Trauma, Belonging.
My work in Focusing-Oriented therapy (Somatic Therapy) and my ongoing engagement in a diploma programme in Process-Oriented Psychology (rooted in Jungian depth Psychology) - underpin and inform my deep respect for the relationship between our bodily lived experience and the world we live in.
I listen out for this relationship across my work.
If we work together I will explicitly invite you to join me in this special kind of listening.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I specialise in working with highly sensitive people.
Therapies offered
Fees
£85.00 per session
Additional information
I OFFER A COMPLIMENTARY INITIAL CONSULTATION (50 MINS).
Working together:
Fees: £85
Sessions are weekly. We will find a regular time that will be yours and I will hold that space for you for the duration of the time we work together. Sessions are one hour long.
If you prefer to meet more frequently that can be arranged.
Extra Costs: There is no extra expense for working over the telephone (as long as you're based in the UK or within the European Union) as I cover that cost, calling at our pre-arranged time. If you are based outside of the EU and want to work by phone then we can use Whatsapp or FaceTime audio only or Signal to ensure that calling costs are kept low to zero.
Do you offer reduced rates for Counselling and Focusing-oriented therapy or Focusing?
I do have a limited number of spaces with reduced rates for people on low incomes. Please don’t hesitate to inquire.
Note : currently all these spaces are full.
When I work
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Daytime Appointments are available Tuesday to Friday. Early morning appointments are sometimes available for people with an early start. Some early evening spaces available.
Further information
I’m interested. How do I get started?
I OFFER A FREE 50 MINUTE INITIAL CONSULTATION
This will provide an opportunity for me to share with you a bit about the way I work and for us to discuss what you are seeking and what you are hoping to gain. It also gives you the opportunity to ask me any questions you may have and to get a sense of whether you would feel comfortable working with me and whether you feel comfortable with working over the phone.
If I feel that I am unable to help you or that therapy is not the most suitable type of support for you at this time I will make every effort to refer you to the appropriate support.
How does telephone/online counselling work?
It works very much like traditional face to face Counselling, providing a safe and confidential space in which issues that may be causing you concern or distress can be explored together.
We will arrange a time to meet on a weekly basis by phone and I will hold that space for you for the duration of the time we contract to work together. If you would prefer to meet more frequently, extra appointments can be arranged.
The same applies to the other services I offer of Focusing and Focusing-Oriented Therapy.
Will I have extra phone charges to pay?
No. There are no extra phone charges for this service (as long as you're based in the European Union). I make the calls at our pre-arranged time to whichever number is most convenient for you.
Many of my clients have a mobile or cell phone rather than a land line. This is not a problem for our work together. You will find it helpful if you are able to arrange to have a calm and private space where you will be uninterrupted for the duration of the session. A place where you can get comfortable and where you feel safe is ideal.
Can I be the one to call you for my sessions?
Certainly. If you would prefer to, we can set it up so that you call me to my number listed at the top of the page at the time we have pre-arranged.
In this case any extra phone charges you might incur would need to be covered by yourself.
If you have questions about any of this please don't hesitate to contact me.
