Mark Welsh
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hello I'm Mark and thanks for stopping by. I guess, you may be feeling nervous, not quite sure of what to do next, feeling perhaps a loss of direction or just feeling what's the point or I can't be bothered really. It's okay to feel any or perhaps all of these; we're all just trying to do our best and who said it was going to be easy or plain sailing anyway?
A little of my story
Well done if you're still reading. I'm pleased you're still with me. I guess it's my turn now, so I work as a counsellor and have done in my own practice for over eight years now. Alongside this, I have also volunteered with two charities in Cambridge supporting people who have experienced childhood trauma and working with people who have lost loved ones. I continue to volunteer with a local charity that offers long term therapeutic support to those who have experienced early or developmental trauma. Before counselling, I had been teaching for almost 25 years in further education (16 to adult) in Cambridge, London and abroad.
A little about the work
Over the last seven years, I qualified in 2016, I have found that people who I have worked with or counselled have generally responded to being accepted for who they are, not being judged but being heard; feeling like they have a voice in the counselling room. They can then take that voice outside to use as a vital resource in their own lives which could allow them to make the changes they feel they would like to, just to not feel adrift or rudderless anymore.
Thoughts such as what's the point, I don't know what to do, nobody listens to me anymore, or I'm invisible may have a history so I work with the history and sometimes these thoughts can have their roots in childhood, sometimes in families or sometimes in relationships and sometimes it can be a blend of all three, so that's where the work would be. We look at the context, perhaps identify problematic thoughts, feelings or behaviours and we build from there. Perhaps reconnecting the fragments which may have become separated down the years, through particular circumstances or situations which you may have experienced as a child, teenager or adult but looking back may see them now as being perhaps not so helpful.
How long will it last and how will I know?
Sometimes people are okay with 6 sessions or 12 sessions, others may prefer longer or open-ended work. Only you can decide when the time is right and you have had enough. Usually I have found when your gaze turns outwards rather than inwards, this can be a real sign of movement. Another way of looking at it is when your world turns from grey (people often looking down so all they see is the ground) to colour (people looking straight ahead or up to see the world in colour or 3D)
Some counselling language
If you're looking for the technical or counselling language, then I initially trained as a humanistic counsellor (identifying blockages that thwart human potential) though I have also had training in Adlerian counselling (more about identifying our internal scripts carried from childhood and looking at how these have shaped our lives in what could be socially harmful or helpful ways with a view to helping us to gain a sense of belonging within our relationships and communities) Much of the cognitive work of the present, you may have heard of CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy is grounded in Adlerian psychology. So the subsequent cognitive training I have had in CBT and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) as well as CFT (Compassion Focussed Therapy) and more recently DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy) has all grown quite naturally from my earlier training.
CPD or Continuing Professional Development
I am a great believer in ongoing learning and training (CPD) I learn so much from my work and hopefully the people I work with learn too. Continuing professional development is also a good sign of professional and ethical practice too and I am a keen supporter of the BACP's (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) Ethical Framework which you can look up online if you wish. It's in the public domain.
I have outlined my current CPD and past mandatory counselling training below but most importantly, a big thanks for reading this far.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Work Experience:
- Counselling in Private Practice: Cambridge. (Oct 16 - Present)
- Counsellor (Private & Volunteer) at Choices Counselling Cambridge. (Jan 16 - Present)
- Bereavement Support Volunteer at Cruse Bereavement Care, Cambridge. (June 15 - Dec 22)
Counselling Training & Qualifications:
- The APT Diploma in Psychological Therapies Incorporating ACT, CFT, CBT, DBT Essentials and Motivational Interviewing, 90 hours in total, online CPD Continuing Professional Development (Dec 22 to Aug 24) Dr William Davis Clinical Psychologist and Director at APT. (The Association for Psychological Therapies)
- Adlerian Society UK Institute for Individual Psychology (ASIIP) Post Dip. Couns. CPD In Person Training in Adlerian Counselling (Sept 17 - June 21.)
Bottisham Village College, Bottisham, Cambs. - Dip. Couns. AQA/AIM (Humanistic) Sept 12 - July 16 In Person Counselling Training at Hills Rd Sixth Form College, Cambridge and Chesterton Community College, Cambridge. (Eve Classes/ Weekends/ Summer Terms)
- AIM L4 Cert. Working with Depression (Sept. - Dec '15)
In person training at CPDC Cambridge Professional Development Centre, Cambridge.
- Understanding Depression, Anxiety and CBT Uni. of Reading (Online CPD) May '16
The Therapeutic Relationship:
- 'Irvin Yalom and the Art of Psychotherapy' Irvin Yalom BACP/ Psychotherapy Academy (Online January-February 25)
- 'Working in the Here-and-Now: Therapeutic Encounters' Victor Yalom BACP/ Psychotherapy Academy (Online February 25)
Psychosexual Work:
- Counselling partners and family members of those who have sexually harmed. StopSO/ COSRT (Online Sept 22)
- Attachment, Neuroscience and Sexual Behaviour Dr. Glyn Hudson Allez (Online Jan 21)
- Prof. Cert. Trauma, Harmful Compulsions and Harmful Sexual Behaviour StopSO/COSRT London (Oct 19 - Feb 20)
- Fdn. Cert. Working with issues around sex, sexuality and relationships StopSO/COSRT Glasgow (Apr 19)
- Choices Counselling Training (Working with survivors of childhood trauma/ PTSD/ CPTSD) Cambridge (Oct - Nov '15)
Trauma Work:
- Working with Dissociative Disorders. Choices Counselling, Huntingdon, Cambs. In person Nov 24.
- Anxiety and Panic Attacks from a Person-centred Perspective Jan Hawkins (janhawkins.co.uk) online June 23
- Compassionate Inquiry Masterclass: Healing Addiction, Anxiety and Trauma. Gabor Mate speaking in Toronto, Canada and Washington DC, USA via PESI UK Psychotherapy and Counselling CPD online March-Apr 23
- Trauma, Dissociation and the Person Centred Approach Jan Hawkins (janhawkins.co.uk) online Apr 23
- Working with Shame. Carolyn Spring Reversing Adversity (carolynspring.com) online Dec 21
- Mindsight, Attachment and Clinical Integration Dr Dan Siegel (University of California, Los Angeles) via PESI UK. Online (Aug. 21)
- Working with Dissociative Disorders in Clinical Practice. Carolyn Spring Reversing Adversity (carolynspring.com) online (May/June 21)
- Helping clients to manage anger. Martin Hogg BACP Prof Devel. (Jan21)
- Working with shame. Choices Counselling, Cambridge. (Jan 21)
- Exploring personality disorders especially borderline personality disorder in relation to trauma. Choices Counselling, Cambridge. (Oct 20)
- Looking at alcoholism within the context of trauma. Choices Counselling, Cambridge (July 20)
- Within the context of trauma, working with suicidal feelings. Choices Counselling, Cambridge. (May/ June 20)
- Working with Self Harm and Suicide PODS Training London July 18
- Working with Relational Trauma PODS Training London July 17
- Working with Dissociation PODS Training London July 17
- Caring for People with Psychoses Kings' College, London. May 16
- Choices Counselling Training (Working with survivors of childhood trauma/ PTSD/ CPTSD) Cambridge (Oct - Nov. '15)
Grief Counselling Work:
- 'Grief, Loss and Growing Old' Irvin Yalom BACP/ Psychotherapy Academy (Online, Feb. 25)
- 'Life After Suicide' Counselling those Bereaved by Suicide. Cruse Bereavement Care (Online, Oct 20)
- 'Exploring Loss and Bereavement' Cruse Bereavement Care (Online Training, July 20)
- Supporting the Bereaved by Suicide. Closed Group Support, Cruse Bereavement Care, Cambridge. (June 18 - Feb. 20) Temporarily closed due to Covid 19.
- Awareness in Bereavement Care Cert. Cruse Bereavement Care. Clinical Sch. Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. (Oct - Dec. 14)
Looking to Build a More Meaningful, Compassionate and Values Led Life:
- Motivational Interviewing (How to Use it Effectively) Based on the work of Dr William Miller and Dr Stephen Rollnick delivered by Dr William Davies (Association for Psychological Therapies) CPD Online June 24 - Aug 24.
- DBT Essentials (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) Based on the work of Dr Marsha Linehan delivered by Dr William Davies (Association for Psychological Therapies) CPD Online Oct 23 - Feb 24.
- CBT Essentials (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) Delivered by Dr William Davies (Association for Psychological Therapies) CPD Online June 23 - Sept 23.
- CFT Essentials (Compassion Focused Therapy) Based on the work of Prof Paul Gilbert delivered by Dr William Davies (Association for Psychological Therapies) CPD Online Feb - March 23.
- ACT Essentials (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) Based on the work of Dr Stephen Hayes delivered by Dr William Davies (Association for Psychological Therapies) CPD Online Dec 22 - Jan 23
- The Life Journey (Rigidity and Change) Caroline Brazier BACP CPD Online (Nov 20)
- Exploring the psychological and spiritual needs of the middle aged and older clients Els Van Ooijen BACP CPD Online (Nov 20)
- Discovering a Spiritual Identity Andelo Tabu BACP CPD Online (Dec 20/ Jan 21)
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
£45.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
£45 per (60 minute) hour.
£30 for first session of one hour.
When I work
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Counselling slots remaining:
Friday 11.15am (Weekly online/ telephone)
Updated 18th March 2025.
Further information
Counsellor or Therapist/ Psychotherapist
Sometimes clients ask what is the difference between a counsellor and a therapist/ psychotherapist. Perhaps a better way to approach this question is to reframe it in terms of the work. They all work to create a therapeutic alliance with the client which offers then a space in which clients can explore their issues with the counsellor/therapist working as an ally to encourage them to recognise a unique way forward for them, so potentially more than 7 billion ways as each client is a unique world within themselves. Essentially then it is a therapeutic way of working which typically begins with a period of exploration, which can lead to insight and this in turn could result in change leading to personal growth.
Carl Rogers and Potatoes
(Striving to Become; a Key Tenet of the Person Centred Approach.)
"I remember that in my boyhood, the bin in which we stored our winter’s supply of potatoes was in the basement, several feet below a small window. The conditions were unfavourable, but the potatoes would begin to sprout — pale, white sprouts, so unlike the healthy green shoots they sent up when planted in the soil in the spring. But these sad, spindly sprouts would grow 2 or 3 feet in length as they reached toward the distant light of the window. The sprouts were, in their bizarre, futile growth, a sort of desperate expression of the directional tendency ... [and] under the most adverse circumstances, they were striving to become. Life would not give up... In dealing with clients whose lives have been terribly warped, in working with men and women on the back wards of state hospitals, I often think of those potato sprouts. So unfavourable have been the conditions in which these people have developed that their lives often seem abnormal, twisted ... Yet, the directional tendency in them can be trusted. The clue to understanding their behaviour is that they are striving, in the only ways that they perceive as available to them, to move toward growth, toward becoming."
Carl Rogers (A Way of Being 1980)
A Short Note about the Business
Just a short note to add, in terms of the business, it's just me, Mark . I don't employ any staff, counsellors or admin staff, so when I email clients for example, it's always 'I' as in me personally rather than 'we' as in the company/ organisation. So, business wise, I prefer to keep things small scale, focusing on the individual needs of each of my clients, while keeping up to date with research, training and supervision.
