Rebecca Taylor

Hello and welcome to my profile. I am a UKCP accredited psychotherapist (MA Psych) with over 20 years experience within the talking therapies profession. I work with individuals, couples and young people. My specialist interest is working with people with a diagnosis or traits of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), particularly Asperger's Syndrome (AS). I also work with family members affected by ASD & AS.

Over the past 20 years I have helped thousands of people who have come to me with a vast variety of presentations. It all started with each of them taking that first step and either picking up the phone or emailing me. I provide my counselling and psychotherapy service in a safe, confidential and non-judgemental environment and I am DBS checked.

Please have a look at my website, I have filmed a short video for you to get a better sense of me as a therapist and there is also lots of additional information.

What do I offer?

I believe that the most important ingredient for therapeutic change is the relationship you develop with your therapist. My aim is for you to feel comfortable enough with me to be able to share your thoughts, feelings and experiences. I use my skills of listening, empathy and curiosity to try and better understand you and your world.

My hope is that we develop our relationship enough so you can explore your issues in a space that will build your knowledge, confidence and self esteem. We can focus on areas that will reduce your anxiety, make your life more manageable, less frightening, enabling you to feel better and able to cope.

You will know what you want to bring to your therapy, even if it just the pain you are feeling, and so together we can better understand you and move towards planning a way of working that suits you best. I am an integrative therapist with a raft of different theoretical models and a solid client-centred underpinning. I firmly believe that the expert of you is you. I am very flexible in my way of working and I become finely tuned to you and your needs.

Experience

I have worked for many years in a wide variety of mental health settings, so I am very used to helping people who are in emotional crisis or are living with a mental health condition.

In addition to my private practice I have enjoyed the demands and challenges of being Service Manager and later Clinical Director of psychotherapy and counselling services within West Yorkshire. I have managed many therapists over the years and as such I have been clinically responsible for thousands of primary and secondary care clients.

I appreciate how difficult it can be to make the initial contact and as way of an icebreaker I offer a free telephone conversation, which generally lasts about 30 minutes. In this half hour you can ask me questions and try, as best you can, to tell me a little about yourself.  It will give you an opportunity to get a sense of how I am as a therapist.

At the end of the call we can both decide if we want to move forward and work together. If either of us doesn’t think the ‘fit’ is right then I will try my best to support and signpost you to another therapist or service. It is also fine for you to just go away and think about everything we have discussed.

Assessment

If we do decide to work together we will begin by having an initial assessment. I believe assessments are hugely important as they gives me an opportunity to get a more detailed knowledge of your life story and you can understand better how we could work together and what I think would be beneficial for you. We will discuss time frames and possible outcomes. This is an opportunity for you to try and explain what is going on for you so we can get you to a better place. Don't worry if you are overwhelmed and or confused with things in your life, it is my job to help you to make sense of your issues.

Time frames

I tend to work in 6-week blocks but sometimes clients just want to discuss a particular issue and so a few sessions is all they need. If you think you would like to work with me then we assess together what is best for you. If we agree on an initial 6 sessions, then we can work within that time frame, sometimes stretching it afterwards depending on progress made. Some clients are happy with 6 sessions and end their therapy with their initial goals achieved. Sometimes clients will spread their sessions out starting weekly and moving onto fortnightly. Some clients end and then contact me, many months later, for  additional sessions.

• Initial Telephone Call/Informal Meeting    Free
• Individual sessions  £60

Sometimes, clients can negotiate with their employers or private healthcare providers to pay for, or part pay for, their therapy. I can help facilitate that process if you need me to.

Whether you are seeking some short-term work to explore a recent issue that has arisen or you have decided to embark on some personal development, I will always advocate that you employ the most trained and experienced professional that you can afford.

If you need counselling then why not also have a psychotherapist in the room? The line between my internal counsellor and psychotherapist merged a long time ago, today you will always get both, with the additional qualifications.

What to consider while looking for your therapist.

While seeking a therapist 'The Fit' is always the most important thing to get right, this is the relationship that you develop between yourself and your therapist. Your aim is to gel in such a way that you feel comfortable enough to share your thoughts, feeling and experiences. Research shows us that the therapeutic relationship is the main ingredient for therapeutic change.

As well as trusting your own 'gut feelings' be curious about professional memberships, levels of training, clinical experience, personal therapy hours and accrued clinically supervised work.

As a client you are undertaking this work at great cost, financially and emotionally, make sure that the other half of this alliance is as qualified and experienced as you need them to be.

Thanks for reading my profile and don't forget to have a look at my website!