Mike Jackson MNCS (Accred) counsellor

Training, qualifications & experience

I am a qualified Counsellor to Diploma Level 5, accredited with National Counselling Society and have been working supporting and counselling people in the charity sector and in private practice for a number of years.

Throughout my career I have worked with men and women for a range of different reasons that they wanted to come to talk about.

I find that different people come to see me on the whole but men seem to approach me and feel I can relate to them with what is going on with them. I have a background from careers in catering and also working for construction companies. This gives me a perspective of how it may be working in an environment that has pressures in different ways to other industries. It maybe hard to think that some people don't get the way of being in an industry and may not understand you.

I have experience counselling people around bereavement and loss. This can be for a number of reasons through loss of a loved one or relationship breakups and losing friendships. Maybe you are finding it hard to come to terms with what has happened and you need some space to talk about your process around the situation.

Other areas that people may find comfortable in approaching to talk to me about is their sexuality or maybe confusion with who they are right now or in the past. People sometimes feel they are able to talk about those subjects that they feel they can't talk to others or another professional about regarding their orientation or their curiosities which might be affecting their way of being. This may include feelings of being gay, bisexual or identifying in other ways in terms of someones orientation or gender.

Some people have very stressful lives and jobs in modern life and they sometimes find they need to come and talk to me about the stress and anxiety they experience due to their life or job currently. I can provide the space to talk about those things and help you process and hopefully resolve the stress and anxiety.

I have worked supporting people with a terminal illness, those caring for people who have a terminal illness and supporting those family and friends after someone has died from a terminal/life limiting illness.

I have background in working with the adolescents that have an Autistic Spectrum Condition.

I believe that our physcial symptoms can also be something that affects us in life and talking around this subject and what the physcial symptoms do to us can be a part of the work we talk about. It is sometimes hard for others to accept we are feeling those symptoms and what they may represent, but having someone listen about what is going on for you can help.

I also have experience ​counselling people that have been carers and also young people and adolescents.

Other areas of training I have carried out include:

• Mental health
• Trauma
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Suicide Prevention Skills
• Therapy for men
• Obsessional Compulsive Disorder – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Counselling Children and Young People
• Cutting edge Connections between Spirituality & Psychotherapy
• Vicarious Trauma
• Mindfulness Therapy
• Working with people who Self-injure

I have worked for Mind in Taunton and West Somerset supporting people with mental health conditions. I have also worked for Marie Curie supporting those with terminal illness and their families. I have gained experience providing counselling at St Margaret's Hospice in Taunton supporting those through bereavement, Carer's Trust Phoenix in Weston-Super-Mare for people who care for others and also supporting young people in a school environment in Somerset.

Further information

Feel free to contact me by phone or email and we can discuss further what you would like to do.

We can have a chat on the phone and if appropriate we can arrange for our first session to see if you feel it is right for you and then look at a weekly session slot that is suitable for both of us.