Nikki Ellen

Available for new clients.

Are you struggling with difficult feelings? Or have you been feeling stressed at work or in your relationship?  

I know from personal experience how beneficial counselling can be. The experience of being deeply listened to and empathised with by a neutral, non-judgemental, ethical, trained professional can help you become clearer about what is troubling you and how to work through it.

I am an accredited Integrative Counsellor, this means that I work in a person-centred way and I am able to suggest well being strategies and interventions that are drawn from integrative counselling, hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming. 

I have extensive experience in working with:

• Anxiety.
• Bullying in childhood and at work.
• Educational issues including overwhelm, perfectionalism, procrastination and the impact of dyslexia.
• Life transitions, particularly starting and finishing university.
• Low mood.
• Processing and working towards the acceptance of life changing health conditions. 
• Relationship difficulties, particularly infidelity and accepting a relationship ending.
•  Young people in their twenties, particularly but not exclusively graduates, who are dealing with the uncertainty of precarious employment, finding a first (graduate) job, managing housing worries, being in a long distance relationship or peer group pressure.

I am skilled at putting people at ease through my warm, down to earth nature. Prior to counselling, I worked as a teacher; this lived experience of the education system has been invaluable for clients working within the education system, seeking counselling. If you would like to find out how counselling could help you move beyond feeling anxious, angry, unhappy or stuck, please call me for a free, no obligation, twenty minute consultation or send me an email.  

How can counselling help you?

Counselling can help you by giving you somewhere confidential and non-judgemental to talk through how you feel. Often the act of talking to someone trained, who listens fully to what you are saying, who is neutral in your life can help to ease your distress or turmoil.

Many people are surprised at how effective counselling sessions are for enabling a person to leave behind troubling memories, through talking about them in a safe, secure setting. Previous clients have also commented on the power of feeling understood and validated, particularly when these might be some of the things that aren't present in a client's daily interactions with family or friends.

I am also able to suggest well being interventions and strategies, to support your progress. Again, previous clients have commented on how useful it has been to be provided with "tried and tested" strategies that can help soothe difficult emotions and improve well being. 

What to expect in your first session.

In your first session, I will do everything possible to help you feel at ease and welcome. Your first session will take the form of an Initial Assessment session. This might feel like an easier way to begin your sessions because it involves me asking you a number of questions, in order to gather information which will provide us with a framework for how to work effectively together.  Your subsequent sessions will provide you with the space to talk, to be fully heard and validated as well as offering you well being strategies, which can help reduce anxiety, low mood, worry and stress. You will be offered regular session reviews to make sure that you are happy with the progress that you are making and only coming for sessions when it is necessary for you to do so. 

I have worked with clients to support their loss about being childless through circumstance. I have also worked with clients to accept the diagnosis of an autoimmune condition and I am able to work with clients who have specific food cravings that get in the way of them eating healthily.

Counselling sessions cost £60 an hour.

I also run courses on Managing Stress Effectively, Managing your Mind and Relaxation for Busy People. I have facilitated two online relaxation groups for nurses, during the pandemic.