About me
Hello, I'm Rachel, a Gestalt therapist registered with The BACP.
As a Gestalt therapist, I work with the here and now, helping you to understand how your unique history and experiences show up in the present moment. This brings deeper awareness of how you feel, your relationships with yourself and others, and the choices you make. Whatever you are bringing, we will work together to explore and make sense of things, to accept what you need to live with and to change what you'd like to be different.
I am warm and compassionate and will meet you where you are, wherever that is, without judgement. I believe that trust and openness are fundamental to the therapeutic process and am committed to creating an environment in which you feel you can be yourself, bringing all of your different parts. I will listen and support when things feel difficult and gently challenge when a different perspective is useful.
I don’t believe in being a ‘blank slate’, a therapist who sits passively while you do all the talking. I see therapy as a relationship. It is a place where we can have the sort of conversations you might want to have with others in your life, but feel unable to for some reason. Perhaps the fear of being “too much”, of being rejected, or a difficulty with expressing anger, get in the way. These are not things which need ‘fixing’ but rather things to be curious about, and therapy provides a safe space where this becomes possible.
Alongside my background in Gestalt I have a strong embodied focus. I use mindfulness based approaches to support the nervous system and Internal Family Systems (IFS) to integrate and heal parts which feel in conflict with each other. This work can be particularly helpful in supporting people experiencing current or historical trauma. It is collaborative and always at your own pace.
It can be difficult navigating all of the different therapy modalities out there. If you feel unsure about which type of therapy might work for you, Gestalt can be especially effective if:
- you want to gain insight into how you are within relationships
- you've had therapy in the past or feel you have a lot of self awareness but don’t seem to feel any different
- you want to make space for your feelings as they arise
- you want to meet all of the different parts of yourself with curiosity
- you want to experiment with different ways of connecting with people
Contact
I understand how important choosing the right therapist is and so I offer a free 20 minute introductory call. This is an opportunity for us to get a sense of one another and whether I feel like the right therapist for you. There is no commitment to work together at this point.
Please get in touch via email. I aim to respond within 48 hours.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications
- Diploma in Gestalt Counselling (The Gestalt Centre, London, 2023)
- Certificate in Humanistic Counselling (The Gestalt Centre, London, 2021)
- Higher Certificate in Counselling and Counselling Skills (Birkbeck University, 2010)
- BSc (Hons) Midwifery (Brighton University, 1999)
Recent Training
- Trauma therapy training, How to help clients come back from trauma related dysregulation, with Janina Fisher, Bessel van der Kolk and Pat Ogden (2026)
- Compassion based therapy for trauma, with Gabor Maté, Kristen Neff and Dan Siegel (2026)
- Navigating grief, with Tara Brach (2025)
- Working with anger, with Umaa Thampu (2025)
- A Gestalt exploration on family, with Umaa Thampu (2024)
Experience
I am experienced in supporting people with anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, grief & loss, relationship difficulties, IVF & fertility challenges, parenting challenges, low self-esteem and identity shifts.
I am also a qualified midwife and have over 25 years working in The NHS supporting people during fertility, pregnancy and parenthood. This includes working at a pregnancy charity supporting people experiencing fertility challenges, pregnancy loss and parenting issues.
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
£80.00 per session
Concessions offered for
When I work
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