Lynette Priest

My name is Lynette Priest BACP Registered Member no. 00778218. My private practice is named Follow The Yellow Brick Road Counselling Essex. 

About my service

Lost? Always feeling whatever, you do, say, or think is wrong and hating yourself for not being what others want you to be. Does it feel like you’re fighting yourself? When you lose your way… it can go multiple ways; bad decisions, just doing what people tell you to do to please them, not doing anything, feeling frightened and feeling stuck, hiding intense low feelings that follow you round like a black cloud or running away from whatever maybe going on for you by keeping busy, hiding what is really going on from you with distractions and toxic positivity. Or you can be brave and midst the confusion and the pain… find yourself.

Not being you and living a life full of your own purpose can mean our whole life can be stolen aways from us. We sometimes live to make others happy like our parents, generational family values or intimate relationships. We end up with regrets, relationships breakdown, we lose opportunities, we take jobs that are not right for us, we stay in toxic relationships, we could use unhealthy ways to cope, develop addictions or carry guilt round.

I am an integrative counsellor specialising in finding you. By coming to counselling I will help you to understand what is going on for you, not by telling you what to do, as that’s part of why you are here, by listening to your story and seeing and hearing you. By being able to look at yourself, maybe for the first time and be able to express your thoughts and feelings, without burden or judgement, or time restrain, you will be able to recognise yourself and start to make choices right for you and let go of anything holding you back. By understanding yourself, supporting yourself, you won’t have to fight yourself any longer. 

What does freedom to be you look like? It looks like caring for yourself mind and body, knowing that you can feel anything and still get back up again, and again and again. It means sleeping better, have reason to get up, feeling an array of emotions, having a backpack or healthy coping skills that doesn’t weigh you down and recognising your own needs. It means taking the steps to jobs, hobbies, relationships that lift you up, minimising or letting go of anything harmful and learning to safely manage any responsibilities. You will be able to look at your present, past, generational past and break the cycle.

You can feel like this at any age, so I work with both children, adolescence and adults, by looking closer at their individual identity. From the challenges of coming into adulthood, to the learning journey of meeting your end of life.

My experience in secondary schools and in a college as both a counsellor and learning support assistant gives me a good understanding of the education sector. I myself have dyslexia, which helps me to think out of the box and lots of experience with learning difficulties and knowing exactly what it’s like in the classroom. I am a creative counsellor, who is happy to use materials, draw, paint, use sand tray, playmobile/figures, mood cards and any other materials.

I have personal experience of anxiety and depression and overcoming this myself through personal counselling and I care for others with mental health issues, which helps me to empathise with others and have patience. I have suffered many losses which brought me to counselling and I am now an experienced bereavement and pre cancer counsellor, working for a hospice and previously a cancer support charity, in a position now where I work and mentor our placements and run groups.

Find your own path with follow the yellow brick road, visit my website for more information or give me an email.

lynette.priest@followtheyellowbrickroadcounsellingessex.co.uk 

 About me

I knew from my early 20s that I wanted to be a counsellor, it felt like my true calling or path. Even before I had my own personal therapy, since a young child I was something of a little professor. I kept trying to work out my surroundings, understand people better, see things from all perspectives, question everything and think outside the box. 

Personal therapy for me was life changing. I, like you, was brave and took the first steps to getting help. It gave me the space to really look at my life and my history. Therapy can help you learn about all the aspects of you, resolve issues, feel heard and gain this unconditional, yet at times challenging, therapeutic relationship. I absolutely feel that having personal experience and your own therapy makes you a more empathic counsellor and person, although textbook knowledge and qualifications are important too. 

Through my training, I learned so much. Not just theory and resources, but how to be resilient. How to fail, but get back up again, and again, and again. The passion I have for helping others and beating mental health issues is part of my core.

I have a keen interest in helping others with their personal trauma. I am personally able to safely and empathetically be with a clients emotions and regularly work with clients who have a history of abuse (sexual, emotional, physical),  been though a close loss/losses (including death from cancer/others illness, suicide, traumatic death, accidental death, murder) or suffer from anxiety or depression. I have a wide variety of experience and know clients often come for one problem and this leads to others areas they need to talk though. My hope, through my work, is to help those feeling isolated in the way they feel, as you do not have to be alone in this and the best thing I ever did was see a counsellor and start my own journey, on my own path.

Fee takes into account cost of living, as aware currently cheaper than peers with less experience. Fee to be assessed annually every April.

Special interests in trauma, intergenerational trauma, polyvagal theory, gestault methods including two chair work, transactional analysis, Person centred importance of the therepeutic relationship, choice theory, working creatively, understanding patterns and making connections with past and present, CBT bag of tools,  Jung personality types, working subject to the individual.