Nicola Smith
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This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
I am a counsellor, coach and accredited member of the BACP. I work with individuals and couples. I am experienced in helping clients with relationship issues, anxiety, stress, depression, grief and many other issues.
Below is an outline of the counselling, coaching and couples therapy I offer. If you wish to know more please visit my website.
Individual counselling and psychotherapy
Working together with you, I aim to help you process difficulties by offering a supportive space for you to explore your experience and feelings. Counselling is a space to heal, process what's going on for you now and perhaps explore your past. Counselling allows you to understand yourself better. I hope to enable you to identify your resources and strengths and to encourage positive change.
I tailor the work to you depending on what you wish to explore and how many sessions you require.
Whatever the issue counselling and psychotherapy gives you a space to explore where you are in your life, how you got there and how you can move forward.
Coaching
Coaching is for when you are ready for change. You may feel stuck and be ready to move forward but be unsure how.
Coaching is as a partnership and I will provide a supportive space and encourage you to explore where you are at the moment and where you want to be. I use my therapeutic experience to work alongside you in exploring any barriers or blind spots that are holding you back from your full potential.
If you are:
- Going through a major life change
- Navigating the end of a relationship
- Embarking on new career
- Dealing with perimenopause/menopause symptoms
- Wanting to create more balance and fulfilment in your life.
I can work with you to understand yourself and your experience better to begin to embrace positive change.
If you are unsure whether counselling or coaching would be most suitable for you, please get in touch and I am happy to discuss this with you.
Couples Therapy
I am a certified Imago Couples therapist. I work with couples wanting to improve their communication, those struggling with conflict or trying to come to terms with the pain of an affair. Couples therapy can help to improve and restore connection.
When working with couples my role is to help you learn to communicate in a way that strengthens your relationship, enabling you to feel safe to express yourself freely with your partner so that you can both feel understood. My aim is to help you make lasting positive changes to your relationship.
Together we will explore why there may be disconnection, what you need and how to get the relationship that you both really want. I will bring compassion and a non-judgemental approach to working with you both and your relationship.
To read more about the couples therapy I offer click here https://www.spacetotalkuk.com/articles or see my website link.
My approach is not suitable for couples where there is any level of physical aggression, violence or emotional abuse. I would in this instance recommend speaking to an individual therapist and seeking advice and information from https://idas.org.uk
Training, qualifications & experience
My Experience
In order to gain my ‘Accredited’ status from the BACP, I have had to demonstrate through extensive client hours, essays and ongoing professional learning that I have high standards of knowledge, experience and development.
My previous experience includes counselling adults in a charitable setting dealing with a range of issues including anxiety, depression, stress, health issues, loss and abuse. In addition, I am experienced in working with teenage students and also adults in bereavement, having been a therapist for a college and a bereavement support organisation.
Before becoming a therapist I worked in adoption for over 10 years helping to find families for children and providing support to adopters going through their adoption journey. I therefore have a range of experience in helping people through challenges.
Qualifications
- Accredited Member of BACP
- Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy
- Certified Imago Couples therapist
- Advanced Senior Practitioner in Coaching (In training)
- Post Graduate Certificate in Interpersonal and Counselling skills
- BSc Criminology
- Introduction to Counselling Skills
Further Training
- Imago Couples therapy training
- Transactional Analysis 101
- Shame Awareness, impact on self-critical thinking and communication
- Working with bereavement
- Compassion Focussed therapy
- Introduction to Cognitive behavioural therapy
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.
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
Therapies offered
Fees
£55.00 - £90.00
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I offer a free 15 minute initial telephone consultation for new clients, it is important we both feel we can work together, the session allows you to ask any questions you have and I can talk you through the therapy that I offer.
I charge:
£65 per 50 minute session for Individuals
£90 for 60 minutes for Couples
To make an enquiry please email me or use the link in Counselling directory. I work from my practice in Harrogate within easy reach of North Leeds, Wetherby and Knaresborough. I also offer sessions remotely via Zoom.
When I work
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Further information
As an accredited member of the BACP I am committed to adhering to their Ethical framework by offering a supportive and safe space for clients.
