Nicholas McLellan

Hi! I’m Nick, a person-centred counselling therapist based in Bristol.

Perhaps you found your way here because you want to make a change.

Maybe something about life isn’t quite working for you, or you’re going through a difficult period and need some help to navigate your way through it.

I work in an inclusive and collaborative way designed to help you explore whatever you may be struggling with and discover ways forward that feel right for you. I believe in the value of your unique humanness and my hope is that our work can support you to develop your resilience, self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Let’s work together to help you make that change happen.

Relationships can be the source of a lot of our troubles, but therapy offers a unique kind of relationship.

In therapy, we strive for security, seek understanding, promote choice, and work towards helping you forge stronger connections with both yourself and those around you.

How do I work?

My counselling work is based on the person-centred approach, which means that my focus is on developing a working relationship with you that’s founded on the principles of unconditional acceptance, non-judgement and genuineness. To be “person-centred” is to be led by you. Your goals, your needs, and your right to express and experience yourself as a unique person are the focus of the work. I’ll work in partnership with you, and in a way that’s sensitive to where you are in your current stage of life. The most important thing is that we work together to create a growing sense of trust and openness so that you’re able to pursue the changes you want to make in your life.

Our experiences can offer up a wealth of clues that may help us on our way as we seek to learn what matters, resonates, drives us or holds us back. With that in mind, sessions usually include exploring emotions, investigating thoughts, reflecting on present and past experiences and listening to different parts of the self. We might also include things like gentle mindfulness, creative exploration or using imagination and metaphor, depending on your preferences and needs.

Lots of research has been done into the effectiveness of this or that approach to therapy, and the evidence suggests that the approach is much less important than the quality of the therapeutic relationship – which is to say, feeling a good “fit” with your therapist, relationship-wise.

Drop me a line to see if I might be a good fit for you. 

If you’d like to discuss doing therapy with me, reach out via my profile here or my website. I normally respond within a day or two.

I always invite new people to chat briefly with me by phone by way of introduction, and to make sure that meeting for a first session feels right. There’s no charge for this.

If we then agree to meet, we’ll find a time that works for both of us for an initial 50-minute session. During the first session, we’ll discuss your needs and goals in more detail. We’ll spend some time exploring what brings you to therapy, any thoughts you have about where you want to get to, the possible length of the work you want to do and any questions you might have about the process. There’s never any obligation to continue as it’s important that we both feel that working together is the right thing for you at this moment in time, and that we’re a good fit for one another.

If we decide to work together, we’ll meet regularly, normally weekly, for 50 minutes. You’ll have a regular slot just for you. We’ll agree the direction and practicalities between us, and we’ll review periodically to make sure we’re still on track and that the therapy is working for you.

Who do I work with?

I'm devoted to making my practice as inclusive and affirming as possible, including to LGBTQIA+ and gender nonconforming folx. I work with adults of any and all backgrounds, and can support you through a range of challenging life circumstances. These might include:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Stress
• Relationship issues
• Managing challenging emotions
• Addiction
• Self-harming behaviour
• Loss, change and grief
• Struggles with identity

You might feel like it’s hard to identify or articulate exactly what’s causing you distress. This is really common - I feel that way sometimes, too! Let’s talk and see if, through working together, we can learn more about what’s going on for you.

Weekly 50-minute sessions cost £55. I offer a limited number of places at a reduced rate of £40 for clients who are currently unemployed or otherwise in financial difficulty.

Please feel free to visit my website for more information (including my ethics and privacy policies), or message me to arrange an initial meeting with me. I always aim to have a short phone call with you before agreeing a time to meet.