Monique Howie
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Reflecting on my last two decades as a therapist, one universal requirement for healing has stood out; to be seen. Whether working with adults, teenagers or children, it's this understanding that lies at the core of my practice. Maintaining my focus on the client’s experience without judgement, it’s with time and self-care, along with renewed self-awareness, that life begins to work itself out.
I am an Registered member of BACP
I offer a range of services, from long and short term therapy with adults, children and teenagers, to phone and online consultations supporting parents who are facing specific struggles with their children, such as behavioural issues, phobias, anxiety, or the ramifications of divorce.
Current work
As the use of online therapy has become essential in order to reach people experiencing a range of challenging upheavals leading to isolation, depression and anxiety, I have firsthand seen the benefit and value of being able to connect with clients in this way.Post Covid I devised and run a five week, group therapy workshop in Primary schools, for children coping with anxiety around COVID19 :
Testimonials
Testimonials
8-9-23
Monique is a fantastic therapist. She has really helped me through my issues and helped me to not only recognise them but better deal with them when they arise. She is extremely good.” Joseph
15-8-23
“I started working with Monique a little over 2 years ago, after the death of my mom. Our initial work was focused on this.
Monique is so compassionate and reassuring that I was really able to build up trust with her. This led to me being able to share more of my mental health struggles. This was a real learning curve for both of us, as I was able to open up more, and we had to adapt our way of working to this. I also sought some extra support from psychiatrists and other doctors around this time.
Monique is always so supportive. She helped me to tackle these challenges with a mixture of practical support, such as writing referral letters to different opportunities, and emotional support, through helping me to explore how I was feeling during this time. She has the perfect balance of lightness when we need to laugh about something, and also to feel with me when things are heavier. When she gives me advice, I really trust her opinion.
In the other direction, by trusting me, she has also given me a trust in my own decision making, and that I know what is right for me. Thanks to Monique I learned that art really helps me to be able to explore my feelings, and I'm so grateful to her for encouraging me to work in this way. She is always learning new things to help support me, and engages in everything I bring to her with such care. Our relationship is so special to me. It really gave me hope to have someone really listen to me, and have someone on my side through the last two years.
Monique has really given me the courage to explore different treatments and advocate for myself. She has also given me hope that I will be able to recover.” Erin
Monique has brought out a positive mindset in my daughter.She came from quite a dark place, having dropped out of school and was suffering from fairly extreme anxiety and never leaving the house. Now she is happy and smiling, has a part time job, a boyfriend and is doing 6 GCSEs and should get reasonable to good grades in all of them.
Colin 10- 5-23
Monique has a warm, friendly and professional approach. I felt safe instantly and over the period of time Monique helped me regain my strength, self belief and joy for life. I have learnt a lot about myself and my family, and developed ways to deal with the struggles I have been experiencing.
LH Jan 22
"I found Monique looking for a different approach to therapy, and immediately found her sessions to be open, kind and friendly. I felt I was able to take work I had done in the past few years, and not only cement applying it, but build on it in different areas of my life. Particularly regarding the first stages of discussing ADHD, I found Monique's approach a really good mixture of practical solutions and compassionate reframing. I feel in a much better place to apply them myself, going forward.'
Zoom sessions worked really well for me - Monique was really flexible and understood that often technology and circumstance weren't always perfect!" -I.S. August 21
"Monique’s weekly sessions have been invaluable and (my daughter) and I are both extremely thankful we were put in touch with her." - S.H. Jan 2020
"To say that Monique was a life-line to our daughter and our family is an understatement." - H.W. Feb 2019
"Monique gave me confidence in my own parenting and I was able to trust in what I felt was best for my child." - L.B. Nov 2019
Training, qualifications & experience
After gaining a Diploma in Counselling Skills from London Metropolitan University, I went on to complete a Post-Graduate Diploma in Integrative Psycho-Dynamic counselling.
Beginning my career as a therapist at the Hackney Bereavement Centre, I gained the experience and confidence to work with people living with immeasurable pain. I learnt that offering the space for these clients to safely express their reality, in what was probably the hardest period of their lives, was vital for them being able to move through that acute stage of pain
With a pre-therapy background working with children, after three years I shifted to one-to-one work with primary school children for the charity, Place to Be. Continuing my training and supervision, I learnt how to utilise creative mediums including painting, clay, and my personal favourite, the sand tray, as a safe means of communicating deep and often inexpressible feelings.
Invited by Kids Company to establish and manage a wrap-around social care project in a primary school in Hackney, I continued providing one-to-one therapy, as well as supervising student social workers and therapists volunteering on behalf of the charity. I also branched into co-facilitating group therapy sessions for children coping with bereavement, neglect and parents with drug and alcohol addictions. This eventually led to my co-creating and facilitating training for all the volunteers within Kids Company, and whilst the charity came to an end, the successful schools programme still continues across London.
From the work at Kids Company I went on to co-create and co-facilitate an INSET workshop for teachers and school staff focusing on developing awareness, new habits and techniques for positive relationships with students while supporting staff wellbeing in school, REACH (React with Compassion and Care). This training is one of many services offered at PACT Creative.
During the past ten years I’ve become a mother of five, whilst building up a successful private practice from my home. Clients have ranged from teenagers experiencing extreme clinical depression with symptoms such as persistent fainting and chronic anxiety; young children struggling with recent loss whether it be through divorce or bereavement; children finding it difficult to make friendships due to negative feelings of self-worth; being able to manage anger healthily.
Member organisations
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.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Specialist in working with young people and parents.
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£120.00 per session
Additional information
£120 One-to-one session (50 mins)
£80 - Parenting support via telephone (50 mins)
When I work
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I have gaps some weekdays. Please contact me to discuss availability.
