Madeleine Bentley
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am a friendly, experienced BACP accredited counsellor based in Heworth, York.
My practice is approximately 1.5 miles from York city centre, University of York and York St John University campuses. I offer face to face, online and telephone counselling.
I mainly work with younger adults (18-45) who are feeling anxious, depressed or experiencing low self esteem. I am experienced in working with university students.
You may be experiencing the following; difficult feelings that are hard to make sense of, unhelpful patterns of behaviour, difficulties in setting boundaries, a strong critical inner voice. Counselling can help with all of these things.
Counselling is a conversation that fully focuses on you. My hope is that I can offer you an accepting and empathic space in which to talk about whatever you are finding difficult or is holding you back in life. I will work with you to explore and reflect on your experiences, thoughts and feelings. We can look at what has contributed to your current difficulties and how you might want to approach these issues going forward.
Talking about yourself may feel daunting, so is important you find a counsellor you feel comfortable working with. I offer a free 15 minute Zoom conversation so that you can meet me and get a sense of what it is like to talk with me. You can use this time to ask any questions you have about having counselling with me.
First session
In first counselling session we will look at what is causing you distress and how you hope therapy will help you. By the end of the session we should both have a good sense of whether we can work together and what the initial focus of your sessions will be.
You can choose to have in person, online or telephone counselling or mix and match these formats from week to week to suit you.
My approach
I offer person-centred counselling. A core of this approach is that we all have the potential to trust our own experiences and instincts and make decisions that help us to live better.
However, getting to this point can be easier said than done. Critical voices from our past and present, as well as difficult life experiences, can affect our sense of self-worth, feelings and mood.
I believe that you know you best and so it is important that we find new approaches to your life that work for you. I won't tell you what to do. Other people's advice is often often not what we need when we are feeling anxious or unhappy; we need to be heard and understood. When this happens we can usually start to make sense of our experiences, re-frame some of our responses and seeing new ways through.
My role is to carefully listen to you. I will step in, where needed, to help you explore and understand how you are feeling, find out what is getting in the way of where you want to be and work with you to find new ways forward.
How long will I need to have counselling?
This will depend on a number of things including how you are currently feeling, the experiences you have had and where you want to be after your counselling.
A few sessions of counselling can start to help you understand yourself better. Some people are ready to make some changes at this point too. More significant changes can take longer with evidence suggesting around 6 months + of therapy is usually needed.
Training, qualifications & experience
I work with younger adults (18-40s) who are experiencing anxiety, depression and low self-esteem for a range of reasons.
In addition to my private work, I am a Mental Health Practitioner at the University of York providing mental health and counselling support to students at all levels of study. I am also a tutor for York City Council teaching CPCAB Level 3 Counselling Studies.
I am an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
I previously worked as a counsellor at Phoenix Health and Wellbeing in Leeds and a Young Person's mentor at York Mind.
I have a CPCAB (Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body) Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. I am trained in person centred counselling.
I am fully insured, hold an enhanced DBS certificate and am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.
I undertake a minimum of 30 hours Continuing Professional Development annually, in line with my BACP accreditation.
I had a career working in public and academic library management before becoming a counsellor. I have a BA (Hons) and MA from the University of Sheffield.
Member organisations
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.
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 also work with:
- Academic stress
- Bullying
- Confidence
- Course failure
- Estrangement
- Exam stress
- Family issues
- Isolation
- Leave of absence
- Leaving home
- Loneliness
- Low motivation
- Low self confidence
- Making friends
- Mood swings
- Pet loss
- Procrastination
- Sexuality
- Sleep
- Starting, returning to or leaving university
I work with a range of clients including many university students (18-25), gap year students, mature students and international students.
LGBT friendly
Autism friendly
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£45.00 per session
When I work
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Please contact me for current session availability.
Further information
I hope you have got the information you need after reading this far, but please email me if there is anything more you need to know.
If you feel like I might be the right counsellor for you, please get in touch by email (madeleinebentleycounselling@gmail.com) and let me know a bit about yourself.
My office hours are Monday-Friday 8.30am-5pm. During the week I respond to all emails within 24 hours. If you don't see a reply from me, please check you spam folder.
I look forward to hearing from you.
