Ralf Bidder
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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
What can counselling/therapy do for me and will it be of help for my particular situation?
Big question and no one answer that would fit all. Experience has taught me that allowing yourself to get/be in touch with your feelings and emotions, reactions and thoughts in a honest and realistic way, is a crucial step for an inner process to take place. The times when we experience life more painfully (for whatever reason) is usually a good time to engage on this path of getting to know yourself a bit better, so that your resilience can grow.
The counselling realationship can be a powerful tool to facilitate that inner growth to happen.
About me:
I see life as a journey written in many chapters. All chapters are inter-connected even if they look very different at different periods in life.
I have also found that there are certain themes that run like a red thread throughout the chapters. My passion for personal development is one of the most important of those threads and has manifested in various forms and shapes.
In search for some deeper understanding of myself and life, I left Germany and went travelling abroad for many years.
I was particularly drawn towards Buddhist countries and cultures and spent time in Sri Lanka, Burma and especially India. From an early age I was fascinated with meditation techniques and I went on to explore Buddhist contemplation practises. This culminated in my decision to become a Buddhist monk for five years to have the opportunity to spend as much time doing meditation and contemplation retreats as possible.
Coming back from my Asian travels it seemed like a natural progression to go on and train to become a counsellor. I gained my postgraduate qualification at the University of North London (now Metropolitan University) in 2001 and have volunteered as a counsellor in various settings ever since.
At present I work as a bereavement counsellor for a local charity in Carlisle. I feel it is important to broaden my training and completed successfully courses in complementary therapies like Reiki, Acupuncture and Healing Techniques. In 2019, I trained with Hermoine Elliott from 'Living Well Dying Well' to become a Death Doula.
Covid has dramatically changed the face of counselling and I have completed the certificate for Online and Telephone Counselling. There are a lot of advantages in doing online sessions and online work can be just as effective and helpful.
I also rent a warm and welcoming therapy room in Longtown, North Cumbria at the 'Esk Holistic Therapies' Centre.
How to get started?
This can be the most daunting thing to do: reaching out and asking for help when you are in a place where life is challenging you. In a way, when you are reading this, you have already started and I want to encourage you to take the risk and make contact and connect. The place and space is confidential, nothing leaves the room.
Start by messaging me or give me a call. If you decide that you would like to give it a go, we will meet (online, telephone or face to face) for a first session. In the first session we will get to know each other a bit and you can decide if you would like to work with me.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am a fully trained, registered and accreditdated member of the BACP. I trained at the University of North London in the postgraduate Diploma course in Integrative Counselling. (2001)
I have completed the first level of End of Live Doula training with Living Well Dying Well.
I have experience in various settings as a volunteer counsellor and now work for a local charity as a counsellor.(2020)
I am utilising supervision and am passionate about mindfulness practise, something I have trained in and experience of for many years.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I have over 30 years of experience in buddhist meditation practise and am happy to guide or help deepen your own practise.
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 - £55.00
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
- The first session is 30min and is free.
- £50 for the full hour thereafter for telephone and online work.
When I work
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After work hours are an option. Best thing is to get in touch and we can find a time that works for both of us.
Further information
2021/22 were the years with the virus affecting every part of our lives and it was and perhaps still is truly challenging. A lot of people experienced their emotional world in unknown intensity. That in turn can bring about unwanted reactions and reactivity that ripples out to family and wider social contexts.
A lot of people experience anxiety, depression, bereavment, sadness, lonliness....
If you feel overwhelmed or it is hard to cope, find any sense or meaning, reach out and ask for support.
One way of getting support is to allow yourself to make contact witht he world of counsellors.
In my experience of listening to people I have found that the fundamental element of being listen to, is the main ingredient needed to work through difficult times. Just by being able to share it out loud to someone listening is often the point where things start to shift.
