Martha Thompson
Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
However much we feel we can share with friends and family, there will always be topics that we cannot go into with our loved ones, to protect our feelings or theirs and to avoid conflict of discomfort.
My counselling sessions offer you a space where no topic is out-of-bounds.
Together, we can work through your thoughts and feelings and discover insights that can help you feel more connected to yourself and others.
What can I expect from my counselling sessions?
I am primarily a non-directive counsellor, meaning that other than sharing tools that you can use to examine your thoughts and feelings, I do not offer advice; you are the expert on your life and my frame of reference will be completely different to yours!
My aim is to help you discover how you came to think a certain way about yourself, other people and your life. I can help you think clearly about what you want from life now, whatever this is and regardless of how your past has been. This will involve me helping you to get into contact with your emotions, through tracking what you share and making you aware of your body language, which might be a clue to what you are really feeling.
At times, I might reflect on how our relationship as therapist and client could reflect your relationships with others in the outside world. I will also make you aware of repeated patterns of behaviour and thinking which might be unhelpful in your life and relationships.
It can be difficult to communicate our deepest thoughts and feelings using words alone, and for this reason I can also offer more creative approaches in counselling sessions, such as Sand Tray or expressive activities using art materials. Creative approaches can be a powerful means to accessing buried feelings.
I offer a review every six weeks to ensure that you are getting what you need from your counselling sessions, and attend supervision regularly to ensure that my work is safe and ethical.
I have experience in counselling individuals coping with a range of issues, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, codependency, relationship difficulties, body image concerns, addictions and long term health conditions. I have many years of professional experience of neurodiversity and have counselled clients who experience autism, ADHD and dyslexia.
I offer sessions either online or in a comfortable and private counselling room in my home.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Diploma in Humanistic Integrative Counselling
- ASIST Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (Grassroots Suicide Prevention)
- Parental Mental Health (Headsight) 2023
- Sand Tray (Katia Demitriou; Counselling Plus Community) 2022
- Lego Therapy Facilitator Training (Bricks academy) 2022
- Autism Awareness training 2017
- Talking mats (visual system allowing communication and self-advocacy) 2018
- Autism in Women and girls 2018
- LGBTQ+ awareness 2019
- Pathological Demand avoidance 2020
- Understanding attachment 2019
- Trauma Informed Responses 2023
- Severe and Complex Trauma 2021
- Animal assisted therapy 2021
- TA 101 (core principles of transactional analysis) 2020
- Understanding Shame 2020
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
£25.00 - £40.00
Free initial in-person session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Students/unemployed - £25.00
Standard - £40.00
