Rachael Manku
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Welcome, I'm Rachael, a qualified, experienced counsellor offering space for you to talk openly and without judgement.
Sometimes, we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed, confused, in times of difficulty when it can be hard to see a way forward. Counselling offers a place just for you, to talk at your own pace, with someone who is objective and trained to listen in a way not always available in our day to day lives.
My focus is on understanding you - and how you feel - in depth. I’ll listen carefully to what you bring to sessions each week, offering another mind for you to think with. I aim to build a trusting, therapeutic relationship, where you feel comfortable talking about feelings and experiences that may be difficult to explore elsewhere. I’ll bring myself, my experience and training to help you gain insight into what’s going on, supporting you to find ways to help you live your life more fully and freely.
How I work
People come to see me to talk about all sorts of things, including feelings of depression and anxiety, relationship difficulties, family problems, life changes, bereavement, trauma and abuse.
I specialise in working during pregnancy, following childbirth and into early parenthood. This includes supporting clients who have experienced the loss of a baby and/or difficulties conceiving. Counselling during the perinatal period offers time for you to consider what becoming a parent means to you and to feel supported – a place where all parts of you are welcome, including those that feel uncomfortable, scary or unknown.
As a psychodynamic counsellor, I hold both past and present in mind as we work together, as well what may be outside of your awareness, in your unconscious. Our early experiences often have a huge impact on how we go through life – how we relate to others, the decisions we make, and how we respond when things become challenging. Reflecting on past relationships and experiences can illuminate the ways in which you may have become stuck repeating unhelpful patterns of being, giving you the freedom to choose how you move forward in a different way.
Training, qualifications & experience
I hold a Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling. I have many years' experience working in the charitable sector, private practice and in the NHS in pre and postnatal mental health.
I take my commitment to professional development very seriously, and undertake regular further training. This has been broad, but with a focus on pre and postnatal mental health, attachment, trauma and parent-infant relationships.
I work with individual adults. If you have recently become a parent, you are welcome to bring your baby with you to sessions if you wish.
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.
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 per session
When I work
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Further information
I offer weekly sessions on a one-to-one basis. If you have recently become a parent, you are welcome to bring your baby if you wish.
We’ll meet at the same time, on the same day each week, for fifty minutes. You are free to bring and discuss whatever you feel is most important week by week. Without giving you advice or telling you what to do, I work to support you to find the answers that are right for you, and to strengthen your own resilience both during our work together and into the future.
Following a brief telephone conversation or email exchange, we will arrange to meet for an initial consultation where we can discuss what brings you to counselling. We'll think about how it might help you and whether open-ended or a brief series of sessions would be most beneficial. This is also an opportunity for you to get a feel for how I work, and whether I may be a good fit.
Most people choose to meet on an open-ended basis, but I also offer time-limited counselling so that you can focus on a particular area or concern – usually for 6, 12 or 20 sessions.
I offer sessions in-person in Tunbridge Wells, online or by telephone.
