Michelle Oakman DipHIP, UKCP REGISTERED

Training, qualifications & experience

I have a diploma in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy from Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling ( BCPC). I started my practice, working with individuals in 2004.
In 2012 I started working with couples after completing a 12 month training in Couples Counselling with Jill Gabriel, a renouned couples therapist and trainer.

I originally trained as a social worker, obtaining the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) in 1986. I worked with children and families for eight years. This was followed by over 15 years experience in working with adults with mental health problems. This gave me a good practical grounding in understanding how early experiences can impact on our patterns of relating and dealing with situations.
Since 2014 I have worked as a part-time facilitator of communication skills groups with trainee social workers at The University of the West Of England.

I started attending training workshops in Family Constellation work in 2006.                               In 2013-15 I completed an 18 month training with Barbara Morgan, an experienced practioner and trainer in this field. This work has a profound focus on the generational impact on individual development. I have found this approach highly effective in sessions with individuals and couples. Between 2012- 2014 I facilitated family constellation workshops at The Aurora Foundation in London.

I was a supervisor of Aurora Foundation counsellors for 2 years in 2014- 2015.

I am a psychotherapist and counsellor with the Trauma Foundation South West, working from a Health Centre in Central Bristol.

I completed training with CSTD (The Centre for Supervision and Team Development) in 2017.       I offer supervision to trainee and qualified counsellors and psychotherapists. I also work with individuals and groups working in person centred agencies and charities.

As a supervisor I draw on my skills as an integrative psychotherapist, keeping theory in mind but always valuing a relational approach which supports the supervisee and their client in their journey together. I am interested in the role of the body in expressing feeling beneath consciousness and how we can reach and help to heal our clients through noticing their and our own physical responses.

Other areas of counselling I deal with

Issues around identity, meaning and purpose of being.

Working with dreams and nightmares.

The role the body plays in highlighting unresolved/unexpressed problems through fatigue, illness, and poor sleep patterns.

Family Constellation work with individuals.

Low cost supervision for individuals and groups..

Further information

My Bath practice is in Fairfield Park, North of Bath City centre. It is a 20 minute walk from the top of Milsom Street.
It is also easily accessible from the Kingswood side of Bristol (approx 20 minutes drive). It is 10 minutes drive from the A46 and 420.

The number 6 and 7 bus from the centre of Bath stops nearby. There is plenty of free parking outside.


My Central Bristol Practice is based in St.Paul's Learning Centre. It is a 10/15 minute walk from The Gloucester Road, Easton and Ashley Down. The M32 is a 5 minute drive away.