Mike Van Duuren
Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
The counselling I offer
"Minds prevented from change cease to be minds".
These times can be difficult, and uncertain times mean different things to different people. If you feel you are struggling or feeling stuck please get in touch and we can explore how counselling with me could help you. I take a humanistic approach to counselling which offers me a way to actively connect with you, the-person-as-a-whole, in an empathic and non-judgemental way. I am respectful and receptive to the uniqueness each person brings. Central for me is the quality of the relationship we develop through which we forge a way of working which allows me to fully hear you and for us to explore what life is like for you, as well as what you need from me in order to move towards a better forward.
No matter what difficulties our lives have brought us the availability of choice and thereby a potential for change or acceptance, however challenging, remains within us.
I offer a safe and confidential space in a valuing and empathic relationship which can support you to reach more of an explorative and deeper connection with yourself, one in which we can both look at your lived experience in a comprehensive, open and change-focussed way. The process of listening to someone with the sole aim of really wanting to understand what is confusing, troubling, or disturbing, without judgement or forethought, can be a very positive and transformative one. But more than this I also aim to support you in clarifying as well as adding new meaning by gently challenging you to describe and explore, rather than for me to analyse, or 'treat' what is troubling you.
I believe that the-here-and-now in the therapeutic relationship can become an important departure point for describing and testing how we feel about ourselves. In attending to this we can shed new light on what might be holding you back, discover untapped resources, strengths, and surprising insights in order to lead a more satisfying life, with better decision making. I see my counselling work as helping you discover more about who you are in relation to both yourself and others, a freeing to be more of you.
The first session is an opportunity for you to identify more of what brings you to therapy, to see what you would like to achieve, and to see specifically how I can help you with this. If you are happy we can arrange a second session and continue, with regular evaluations, as long as this provides value for you.
We may, at times, all become familiar with feelings we find distressing, or notice regularities in our behaviour we struggle with, or notice a more general experience of discontentment or lack of self-belief. It may be that you sense being out of tune with life around you (and with yourself) accompanied by a sense anxiety, sadness, depression, guilt, isolation and low self-esteem, or even a need to experience more of you then what you presently have.
You might experience these feelings emotionally, bodily, or in relation to others; they could be directed to yourself, to others or to the ideas you choose to live by. Whatever is prompting you towards counselling, this is a meaningful and courageous first step! Whether you are feeling overwhelmed or simply at wonder about where you are in life, I aim to actively help you find a better fit with yourself and the world around you.
If the above strikes a chord with you why not call me or use 'the book an introductory call button' for a 20 minute, free, non-obligation and confidential chat regarding your needs?
Training, qualifications & experience
- Postgraduate Diploma in Humanistic Therapeutic Counselling (Distinction) (University of Brighton)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Mental Health Practice (University of Sussex)
- Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol, BPS, since 2009)
- PhD Developmental Psychology (University of Sussex)
- MA Mass Communications (University of Leicester)
- BSc Psychology and Sociology (University of Southampton)
- Continuing Professional Development courses - to date.
Experience
Having grown up in The Netherlands in have a keen interest in multi-cultural experiences and issues of belongingness.
As an academic here I worked closely with a number of well-being and mental health charities, including coordinating and designing university student work placement roles. I then trained as a mental health practitioner working within a person-centred recovery model in an NHS community mental health care team in Newhaven.
Prior to my current private practice my work as a counsellor has been to support NHS staff with the Western Sussex Hospitals staff counselling service, counselling students from a local music college, as well as work in a partnership service supporting family members and carers of people who are addicted to alcohol or drugs.
Further training
- ACTO accredited Online counselling
- Emotional regulation
- Sensori-motor psychotherapy
- Working with Co-dependency
- The effects of someone else’s substance or alcohol use
- Shifting senses of belonging
- Boarding School survivors
- Working with trauma
- Solution Focussed Therapy
- LGBTQ Awareness
- Student mentoring
- Student mental wellbeing
- Behavioural Activation
Member organisations
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.
British Psychological Society
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
- Perfectionism
- Relationships
- Feelings of displacement and not belonging
- Dismissing of self and/or others
- Feelings of loneliness and isolation
- Problems relating to authority
- Searching for new meanings, directions
- Motivational issues
- Shame
- Fear
- Autism
- Boarding school syndrome
Photos & videos
Fees
£50.00 per session
Free initial telephone session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
If you think you might like to work with me then please get in touch, either via email or by phone! I aim is to return your message within 24 hours.
I offer sessions on a short-, medium- or long-term basis.
I offer a FREE phone consultation (lasting around 20/30 minutes) to discuss what is bringing you to therapy and to explore how we might work together.
For ongoing sessions my fees are £50 (in person)/£50 (online), I have a limited number of concessionary slots available, and can be paid by bank transfer.
Each session is usually 50 mins long, once a week, at the same time. I work in person I also have extensive experience both with telephone and online based counselling, the choice would be yours. Online and telephone counselling delivery has become increasingly popular and is specifically designed to meet a wide variety of client circumstances.
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have for me, either by phone or email.
When I work
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | |||||||
| Afternoon | |||||||
| Evening | |||||||
| Night |
I have availability mornings, daytimes presently.
Further information
Ethical Practice
I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the British Psychological Society (BPS). My practice is grounded in the ethics of care, respect, safety and confidentiality, which is reflected within the code of ethics and conduct of the above organisations. My practice is also insured and regularly supervised as per the requirements of BACP.
