About me
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* 1x Online Spaces Available * *****************************
As a deeply seasoned and registered psychotherapist, counsellor, mental health professional and mindful coach it’s important, to me, that I assist people to find their very own awareness of clarity within their human nature, through “experiential” methods.
This means guiding with effective ways that allow the embrace, processing of emotions and bodily feelings - within an increasingly more wholesome, enriching and beneficial way.
The approaches used are for facilitating deeply felt acceptance, compassion, innate calm, with clear insight that allows the internal space for self liberation and healing…
life can, indeed, become more possible.
Recently, and unsurprisingly, it’s been identified and shown that the most important context in therapy is…
“The Client”
and what clients bring to sessions!
You, and what you bring to sessions are of paramount importance, to me, as the therapeutic process unfolds.
This also means that any usual and familiar positions of both the client and therapist can become both a solution that is also a problem bind. Recognizing this effect is hugely important and can become deeply beneficial when explored and worked through therapeutically.
Eg, the meeting of therapeutic ideas and practices toward how therapy should unfold based on research, embodied positions, experience, histories or hopes etc etc etc.
This being said, I firmly understand and have not met anyone that does not have a wealth of their own resources to heal (become more wholesome). I understand that some of these inner resources may have become trapped, stuck, blocked or scared to be there for you, in a more useful way. Therapy assists you and your natural resources emerge through…
At the forefront of my practice as a Mental Health Professional (MHP), is something I’ve been practicing for about 15 years. IFS Therapy. Internal Family Systems Therapy is rooted in Systemic Practice, and is a compassion held approach for emotional healing. IFS assists people to attend their constraints and release their natural potentials. I have fully trained in IFS and work effectively with both individuals & couples bringing life changing results. It’s all become a major part of my therapist tool kit, and is in addition to my Family Therapy / Systemic Training.
IFS and Systemic Practice are evermore being recognised as an evidence-base of effective therapy that are non pathologizing and even de pathologizing. IFS has been dubbed “a therapy that actually does work” to help people better be with their human experience / self / egotism and to access innate Human Resources (Self Energy), that dissolves emotional suffering, trauma, debilitating shame and even body pains.
“When compassion arises the internal physiology changes” ~Gabor Mate.
I’ve practiced mindful approaches for emotional calming / regulation since the 1980’s and this is what led me to my work today - from this deeply embodied practice I can guide my clients to “Breathe Self Energy”, tuning the ‘being energy’ that is the fundamental process of 3rd and 4th wave healing therapies. This mindful process synthesises beautifully with the energies IFS and systemic processing draws the attention towards, for the release of emotional space that allows the flow of natural heart felt healing to take place.
I feel deeply honoured to meet people as their counsellor / therapist and witness peoples change / heal during our interactions through the therapeutic process, with what is often described as “a sense of deepening freedom and perspective”.
What to Expect:
- Empathic acceptance, compassionate, respectful and safe attention.
- Engaging a warm, honest, collaborative / dialogical therapeutic relationship.
- The embodiment of innate calming resources - natural unblocked energy.
- Connection with a person who has also experienced adversity and has experienced the benefits of the therapeutic process.
- Assistance and trust towards meeting clients therapeutic needs with realism.
- An amalgam of containment, listening, creativity, coaching, gentle challenge and encouragement towards the potentials of wholesome well-being.
- Emerging difference with new communicative ways. The newness of change - newness may initially feel more than familiar.
- An opportunity to discover, tune emotional communication (feelings), and express yourself / selves more fully.
- Value-based focus with mindful attunement from extensive experience.
- Results with male and female clients.
Training, qualifications & experience
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My experience:
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As an IFS therapist and systemic therapist my professional experience has enabled me to deal with the broad range of presenting problems.
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My speciality is finding and working with people to heal their traumas. Traumas are often realized as the root of other systems that communicate with the emotional system with and through the body as protective symptoms.
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I am used to working with a wide range of presenting clientele from most demographics.
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Referrals from: Major Employers, Music and Film industry ( eg BBC, Apple), General Public / Private, NHS and Mental Health agencies, Social issues, and also referrals from other counsellors.
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All this is complimentary to a wide scope of transferable skills and understandings from my previous role as a staff mentor, for a huge company, where I coached to cope with difficulty and stress.
- Qualifications:
- Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFST) Psychotherapy / Practitioner. I have completed the practitioner Mastering Skills trainings and all required levels (1,2, & 3) of the IFST training program. IFS-Therapy is the new wave of very effective Systemic Practice that is both evidence and practice-based, mindful, safe and non-pathologizing 4th wave psychotherapy for individuals - this means it heals without putting the fault on "you" by compassionately valuing you and your inner systems to the calming seat of existence.
- Intimacy From the Inside Out (IFIO) Couples / Relationship Therapy. IFIO assists people to work through difficulty or simply enhance relational quality. I am privileged to offer this fresh and different approach for couples / relationship work, enabling difficult conversations to become both possible, safe and intimate. I believe, IFIO provides a way to elicit what humans innately crave. IFIO is a unique blend of traditional Imago Therapy fused with "Systemic Ideas" through utilising IFS Practice, with a balancing relational approach.
- Systemic Practice (BACP Accredited), Post Graduate: Couples and Family orientated approaches in psychotherapy.
- Systemic Counselling (BACP Accredited), BSc Hons: integrating Vipassana - Mindfulness / phenomenology / Existentialist and Mentalization within Systemic Thinking & IFS practice, (The home of Solution Focused Therapy).
- CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (3rd Wave / Mindfulness based), studied with a focus on Trauma therapies (TFCBT).
- Trauma Therapy: "Rewind" practitioner, (trained directly by Dr Muss 2015). An effective way to quickly relieve traumatic feelings.
- Partswork Rewind Therapy (PRT) development of effective Trauma relief.
- Diploma: Systemic Counselling, (Solution Focused constructivist, Modernist strategic / structural, and Post-modern non-pathologising theory - integrating IFS theory and practices).
- Diploma: Psychotherapeutic Counselling, (Solution Focused, Humanistic, and traditional Cognitive Behavioural Therapies).
- Integrative Studies: i.e. Three Routes of Counselling (Traditional: Humanistic, Psychodynamic and Rational Emotive Cognitive Behavioural Therapies).
- Metacognition: Embedding the Self in Culture: Brain plasticity and how to achieve it for self-development at the Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute.
- Vipassana Practice (Mindfulness stress reduction and coping tequniques): Experiential acceptance and commitment training and consultation. This involves the therapeutic use of "metta balm" consciousness and compassion focused strategies; useful for therapeutic work with craving / compulsion, depression, anxiety and trauma.
- Relationship Rescue. Workshop delivered ideas and technique for couples counselling.
- Conflict Resolution Practices. Basic human relations training for both private and social practice (relationship mediation and coaching).
- EMDR. Workshop for stress reduction by using left and right consciousness'.
- EFT. Workshop for stress reduction by using meridian points, pressure and the energies contained inside the body.
- Intrusive Thoughts & The Critical Inner Voice. Workshop influenced by IFS ideas.
- ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Trained) Suicide Prevention trained + updated.
My Aim
My aim is to allow these factors within counselling sessions to Midful Dialogism (MD) to co-create ways for empathic understandings together with clients unique choices and healing process, as the relational aspects develop.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
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.
The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society This Not For Profit association of counsellors and psychotherapists aim to support the counselling profession, members and training organisations. In 2013 the NCS register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under the Accredited Voluntary Register Scheme. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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
- Non-Voyeuristic Counselling (unspeakables),
- Emotional Dissolution (generating relief),
- It has all contribute to who I am, but is it really me?
- Inner children, others - influence bound (burdens).
- Excessive Shame / Guilt (leagacy narratives).
- Living with the effects of medical birth,
- Living with Asthma and / or Allergies.
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 - £120.00
Additional information
Professional Fees
Discounted options are available online, (limited). Exceptions for reduced fees may be possible (e.g. students, benefits), limited.
Sliding Scale: £50-120
Typically sessions are 1 full hour limited duration (in person are 50 mins), but can be negotiated to a suited relational and practical frequency during our meetings. Extended and back to back sessions can be arranged [discounted rate] to benefit specific contexts such as Single Session Therapy for trauma reconstruction, more deeply focused work, IFS, or confidential relationship workshops - IFIO (workshops are usually held at weekends).
My Services - "individuals & couples"
More about my position as a counsellor can be seen on my website link at the top of this page. Otherwise, please contact me with any queries.
Please note, conversations outside of simply arranging appointments are chargeable.
Safety: Please be mindful about the disclosure sensitive information within emails / texts.
I feel privileged to work with adults who have made it their own decision to enter a counselling relationship, being useful for their self and relational well-being.
Locations: Online or Person to person in Bristol.
When I work
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To understand how therapy can benefit, one must engage it experientially.
Online sessions,
otherwise, in-person in Bath on a Wednesday or Thursday evening times.
Subject to availability.
Further information
Therapeutic results
- Therapeutic results come about via Dialogical Mindful Transformation / Therapy (DMT) or with additional experiential practices to free-up the system.
- The focus can be on a particular issue or with multiple aspects of the relational system.
- Work with the counsellor and client within a collaborative value-based system.
- Manifest beneficial results with both males and females of varying ages.
Enhanced Public Child and Adult DBS clearance is in place.
- Telephone counselling is a last resort option for senior citizens / disabled and in the event of online drop-out.
- Internet counselling coming soon.
In today’s culture its normal for people to reach a point where they may feel distressed. Life can feel burdened rather than free and calm. On a logical level human beings can argue with our selves that "all should be fine" - yet somehow things can remain with feelings and meanings that suggest things are not right. People can find themselves stressed, having to create new ways to make changes to move away from mental suffering / illness, solve emotional charge, make more sense of their life - or considering themselves relatively healthy simply desire to find something to assist their living existence, with enriched wholesome experience...
It intrigues me how emotive communication can create detachment from, or be attaching towards, a person’s innate vital qualities. The counselling approaches I offer attends and explores these intricacies, experiences, patterns and parts of human experience both at the logical and emotional levels. This means I don't just work with thoughts but also with the contextual aspects that inform a persons thoughts i.e. what generates the thought patterns along with the thoughts themselves. This is to enable clearer listening, understandings, adjustments and the arising possibilities of new found perspectives and inner freedom - differentiated clear awareness.
