Maura Brivio

I am Maura Brivio, a psychotherapeutic counsellor and coach in Bath. I work in person and online, in English and Italian, with people aged 16 and above.
I mostly with relationships. Couples. Mothers and daughters. Parents, together or separated. Families going through something. And people on their own who want to look at a relationship the other person is not willing, able or alive to look at with them.
Alongside that: grief and bereavement, serious illness in a family including cancer, adults who were adopted, people living between countries and languages, highly sensitive people, and the relationship a person has with themselves, which is the one that cannot be left and is often conducted most harshly.

How I work
I am qualified as both a counsellor and a coach, and that is the main thing to know about how we would work together.
Counselling looks at what happened to you and how it still affects things now. Coaching looks at where you want to get to and what is in the way. Because I am trained in both, we do not have to choose one. We can go deep when that is what is needed, and stay practical when it is not, often in the same session.

In practice, we start by working out what is really going on rather than by fixing the latest argument. Where did this begin. What is it protecting. What did it once do for you, even if it costs you now. Once that is clearer, things loosen, and the question changes. Not why does this keep happening, but what do you want to do instead. So you try something different, in a real conversation or a real decision, and we look together at how it went.

What people usually arrive with
Maybe you and your partner have stopped really talking. You are polite. You manage the house, the children, the diary. But you do not feel close, and neither of you says so. Maybe it is you and your mum, or you and your daughter. You love each other. You still come away from most visits hurt. Or maybe you already know what you keep doing. You can describe the pattern clearly. Knowing has not stopped it happening again. These look like three different problems. Underneath, they are usually the same one.
Most of the relationships people bring me have not broken. They have stopped fitting. What worked when you were younger, or when the children were small, does not work now, and nothing new has taken its place. So you keep a little distance and stay careful with each other, and neither of you chose that.

The same thing happens outside relationships. Grief that turns up late, or years afterwards, or all at once when you thought you had dealt with it. Serious illness, which quietly reorganises a whole family: who holds what, what gets said at the table and what is carefully not. Or the harsh voice in your own head, the one you would never use on someone you love, which probably started as a way of keeping you safe and has long outstayed its welcome.
In each case something that once made sense is still running, and understanding it has not switched it off.
That last part matters, so I will say it plainly. Most people I see are thoughtful. They have read things, thought hard, often had counselling before. The pattern is still there anyway. That is not a failure on your part. It started long before you had any say in it.

On your own, or with the other person
That work can be done either way.
Coming on your own gives you room to look at your own part in something without also managing the other person's reaction to it. Coming together, as a couple, or a mother and daughter, or two parents who have split up, means the pattern happens in front of me, so we can catch it as it happens rather than talk about it afterwards.

Plenty of people do both at different times. Some start on their own because the other person will not come, or cannot, or has died. That still works.

Before we start
None of this is quick, and it matters that you feel comfortable with the person doing it with you. So the first conversation is free, about 30 minutes, with no pressure to book anything afterwards. You tell me a bit about what is going on, I ask a few questions and mostly listen, and by the end we will both have a sense of whether this is right.

People living between countries, cultures or languages, and the questions about belonging that come with that. Often the move itself made complete sense, which is exactly what makes the unsettled feeling hard to explain.
Illness in a family. Your own diagnosis, or looking after someone who is ill, or life after treatment finishes and everyone else assumes it is over. Children usually know more about this than the adults think, and they tend to protect the adults from what they have worked out.
Adults who were adopted, and the questions about where you come from and who you belong to that a good life since does not settle.
Highly sensitive people, who take in more than most and are often told they are taking it too personally.

One to one, age 16 and above: £85 for 50 minutes weekly, or £140 for 90 minutes fortnightly.
Two people together, couples, mother and daughter, parenting, family: £130 for 60 minutes weekly, or £195 for 90 minutes fortnightly.
Work relationships: the fee depends on the format and on whether you or an employer is paying.
There is also the Intensive: one uninterrupted three-hour session, for times when a weekly hour is not what is needed. Ask me about it.

Alongside my usual fees I keep a few lower-cost places for people closely affected by cancer. Mention it in our first conversation and we will agree something that works.
On the practical side, sessions are paid for one at a time, in advance. I do not work with insurance. Cancel with more than 48 hours' notice and there is no charge. Less than 48 hours, or not turning up, and the full fee applies. I also ask you to commit to the first eight weeks, so the work gets a fair chance before either of us decides anything.

Sessions are in person in Bath, or online on Google Meet, in English or Italian. The first conversation is free and takes about 30 minutes.

You can email me with an inquiry. If you do not see my reply within 24 hours please check your spam/ junk folder