Maria Dowse
Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
"Perhaps the journey isn't always about becoming something new, but rather about gently letting go of everything that no longer reflects who you truly are so that you can return to your most authentic self." – Paulo Coelho.
Are you feeling tangled up in your thoughts, emotions, or life events? Or perhaps life feels like it is swirling around you, and you don't know where to turn. Maybe you or your young person has a nervous system experiencing shutdowns or meltdowns at home or school.
As a creative counsellor, I can help you or your young person make sense of life's untangling threads and, as Coelho suggests above, move towards becoming who you are and were always meant to be.
I am Maria, a multiply neurodivergent (late-diagnosed) psychotherapist, mother (of 5), and long-term (25 years) philosophical home educator. As my home-educating journey was ending, I re-trained as a creative psychotherapist, carrying with me a value for the individual's autonomy and agency.
I work with clients who are;
- Experiencing anxiety around school, college or work.
- Exploring their neurodivergence through diagnostic pathways and self-discovery.
- Experiencing grief, loss and bereavement.
- Exploring their identity, life, purpose, values and sense of self.
Along the way, we can work to understand your anxiety, existential thinking, bereavements, and nervous systems to untangle beliefs, ideals, and values and support you in developing a greater sense of who you are and what you need and want from life.
I offer both traditional talking therapy as well as creative and expressive psychotherapy, online or face-to-face.
Please do get in contact if you would like to explore working together.
Training, qualifications & experience
- MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy- Contemporary and Creative Approaches
- Graduate Certificate in Counselling.
- ABC Counselling Skills Level 3.
- ABC Counselling Concepts Level 2.
- Diploma of Teaching (Primary).
- Cruse-Foundation bereavement training.
- Cruse-Bereavement Support Online and Telephone.
- Cruse-Bereavement Safeguarding level 3/4-
- Cruse-Bereavement group training.
- Minecraft in therapy- level 1 & 2 with Ellie Finch.
- Minecraft in therapy-Using Digital Sandtrays in Online and In-Person Therapy- with Ellie Finch.
- Focusing Level One- with Susan Jordan
- The Inside of Autism- Kieran Rose, The Autistic Advocate (6-week course).
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 have;
- 3 years of experience volunteering with Cruse Bereavement (ongoing).
- Experience offering a therapeutic wait list triaging service for a charity in Southport for children, young people and their families.
- 25 years of experience in home education, alternate education, and autonomous education.
- Lived experience of multiple late-life diagnoses (neurodivergent).
- Experience with spiritual and religious abuse.
- Trained to use Minecraft within the therapeutic space.
- Experience in offering a psychoeducational lens of our nervous system, attachment styles, and neurodivergence.
- Worked creatively with groups and I have been employed to run school-based bereavement support groups.
- Written and developed a bespoke therapeutic group programme for a Manchester-based domestic abuse charity.
Therapies offered
Fees
£60.00 per session
Concessions offered for
When I work
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | |||||||
| Afternoon | |||||||
| Evening | |||||||
| Night |
There may be flexibility for adult clients who want online therapy. However, I see clients face-to-face on Mondays and Tuesdays. Please contact me if you would like to check my availability.
