About me
Hello & welcome,
How Counselling/Therapy can be Helpful
Your life may bring about very human challenges: transitions, anxieties, doubts, uncertainties and dissatisfactions concerning your relationships, your understanding of yourself and your life as a whole. You may be struggling to make sense of your experiences past and present, leaving you feeling many things including overwhelmed with responsibility, out of control within the unknown, stuck, alone, anxious, angry or confused whilst you do your best to navigate this.
Meeting in a neutral space regularly with a supportive and curious outsider can help in gaining relief, insight, self-understanding, self-acceptance, help to make changes if you so wish, identify choices, possibilities and envision a way forward. Counselling is a unique encounter between two souls and offers a freedom to bring yourself in a way to another person, perhaps not possible within your day to day. Counselling can help you to understand your world and how you relate to yourself and others at greater depth, representing a special investment: your time to place yourself first.
My Approach
I am a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, underpinned by the Person-Centred approach. This means that what you need is central to our work, content is led by you, exploration is gently conducted together and co-creating a down-to-earth relationship between us based on acceptance, empathy and genuineness is key to facilitating a meaningful experience. Psychotherapeutic also means I work at depth, drawing from different approaches to best suit your needs, primarily through Person-Centred, Existential and Psychodynamic lenses, allowing room to explore your past and present life and how you might envision your future.
I have a special interest in exploring life's big questions: Am I living authentically in-line with what I value and believe? Who am I as an individual and in relation to others? How do I feel fulfilled and with meaning and purpose in my life? What opportunities are there for my life and how do I want to live? I do not view challenging feelings such as anxiety, uncertainty, loneliness and sadness as problems to be fixed or eliminated, rather as meaningful, human responses to living and together we can sink a little deeper into them and explore what they may be showing you.
A Typical Session: What I Provide
My approach emphasises respect towards the clients freedom to choose what to bring, and so sessions are client-led and I will not impose an agenda. I will not position myself as the "expert with the secret formula for the good life" (I don't believe this is true of any therapist), rather adopt a stance of curiosity and passion to help you open-up your unique experiencing. I will deeply listen and allow space to really let you be heard within the provision of an environment based on empathy, non-judgment and honesty.
I will facilitate exploration when appropriate for you, through use of exploring further description, questions, and regularly checking-back and clarifying with you that what I'm hearing and understanding within your story accurately captures your experience and meaning. Perhaps most importantly, I will join you in just being with those difficult and sometimes painful feelings and experiences. Sessions are open-ended and so we can work together for as long as you need. We will usually meet weekly at the same day/time/location each week.
If you would like to make an initial enquiry and arrange a free initial telephone conversation then I look forward to hearing from you.
Email me via the directory, directly at: pfcounselling@outlook.com or by phone on the number provided.
Training, qualifications & experience
I hold the following professional/academic qualifications:
- Master of Arts Degree in Counselling & Psychotherapy Practice
- Level 5 Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling
- Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
- Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies
- Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills
- Certificate in Online & Telephone Counselling
As part of my commitment to ongoing professional growth, I participate in learning such as:
- Introduction to Existential Therapies (10 weeks, University of Oxford)
- Supporting and being curious about the lived experiences of Transgender and Non-Binary people
- Understanding the holistic effects of traumatic experiencing to provide a 'trauma informed' approach, with my dissertation on existential anxiety, resilience and trauma, broadening my understanding.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
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.
The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society This Not For Profit association of counsellors and psychotherapists aim to support the counselling profession, members and training organisations. In 2013 the NCS register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under the Accredited Voluntary Register Scheme. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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.
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
- Exploring ageing & mortality
- Exploring life meaning & purpose
- Exploring procrastination
- Exploring your relationship to the online world
- Exploring gender-related expectations
- Exploring the experience of living with a mental health diagnosis.
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£50.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I offer a free initial 15-30 minute conversation either online via Zoom or by phone. This will allow us to talk about what I am able to offer and will also help us to gage whether we will be an appropriate fit to work together.
- A limited number of concessionary spaces are held open: enquire for availability
- Sessions are open-ended (ongoing or within a pre-arranged end date)
- Sessions last for 50 minutes
When I work
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Further information
Our first session after the initial conversation will include some initial questions which will help me to gain a clearer picture of what you are looking for from therapy, help to make sure that I possess the appropriate levels of competency to ensure that our time together is conducted safely and to get a more rounded picture of your life currently as we begin. I will also conduct regular reviews with you to gain an understanding of how you are experiencing our sessions.
