Ruth Heatherley
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am an experienced BACP Registered Integrative Counsellor and Psychotherapist working in person in Southsea and online across the UK.
If you are struggling with your relationships, feeling depressed, anxious or sad, or have difficult feelings about yourself and are finding it hard to enjoy life, I would like to help. Perhaps you keep repeating a pattern of behaviour that is difficult for you, or perhaps just want to grow, change and develop.
Experiencing difficulty is such a normal part of life. Counselling can help further your understanding, increase your awareness and process emotional blocks from the past which may be holding you back.
I offer a safe, non-judgemental, confidential and creative space to help you fully explore what is troubling you, increase your self-understanding and make positive changes so you can move forward with confidence.
Starting counselling
Whatever your reason, embarking upon therapy and finding the right therapist for you can feel daunting. If my profile resonates with you, I offer a discounted fee (£25) for an initial 50 minute consultation in person or via zoom, where we can discuss what has brought you to counselling, what you want to achieve and how we might work together.
How I work
As an integrative therapist I work intuitively and collaboratively, drawing on a range of therapeutic interventions best suited to you. These include traditional talking therapies such as psychodynamic and person centred approaches but also mindfulness and psycho-education. My practice is trauma informed and I also work somatically and creatively using sand tray, art or drawing therapy which can help to process past experiences and gain a greater understanding of our behaviours, thoughts and feelings in the present.
However we decide to work, evidence suggests that the therapeutic relationship is the key ingredient to facilitating healing, change and transformation and so I place great emphasis on the building of trust which enables clients to feel safe and supported in the work.
My experience
I am experienced in helping clients with anxiety and depression, low self-esteem, relationship and attachment issues, trauma, including early childhood developmental trauma, domestic violence and abuse.
Healing and personal growth
I believe that we all have the ability with the support of the therapeutic relationship, to access our own innate ability to heal and find our way back to who we truly are, so we can feel more empowered, resourced and enabled to fulfil our true potential.
Training, qualifications & experience
I am BACP registered and have a post graduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy from Roehampton University. I qualified in 2015 and since then, in addition to my private practice, have worked in various settings, including the charitable voluntary sector and higher education, with a wide range of clients.
Additional certified training: Working Creatively with Trauma (2022)
I have also worked in the public and private sector as a management consultant and as a trainer and educator in the field of emotional health and wellbeing, promoting awareness of the importance of emotional health and wellbeing and the knowledge, tools and techniques we can use to support good mental and emotional health.
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
Free initial telephone session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I offer both short-term (6-12 weeks) and longer term open ended work. Sessions are £55 in person and online at my Southsea practice, £60 in person at my Petersfield practice. Session last for 50 minutes.
An initial appointment is £25 for 50 minutes. I also offer a free 15 minute telephone conversation in advance of an initial session if this is felt to be helpful.
When I work
Please contact me for my availability.
