Sally Mays MBACP Counsellor/Supervisor PG Dip Counselling (M) Exeter University

In these difficult times, I am offering my services at a reduced/negotiable price owing to the telephone or Skype nature of any contact. I offer an initial half hour chat on the telephone to establish the issues for which you may be seeking help, and also to negotiate how the contact will take place. In view of the continuing crisis, I am happy to offer 4 sessions, paid for in advance, @ £25 per session. Now please read on!

I understand how much courage it requires to take the initial plunge in seeking help. If confidence has been knocked, or a persistent anxiety has led to depression, it is then that a trained listening ear can provide a positive first step. Such issues may well, right now, be exacerbated by the current coronavirus crisis. Voicing fears, and working towards a healthier approach to life and its challenges, can be a need at the best of times - but when we feel especially stressed, or anxious, that requirement becomes stronger. At the moment, in the context of a pandemic, everything can seem even more bleak or frightening. Now, more than ever, we may reflect on what our existence has been, and strive towards a future in which life becomes what we would most like it to be. Everyone desires a return to normality, but in the meantime we have to make sense of our lives, and find strategies to keep us positive.

I have a particular interest in women-centred practice, working with a warmth that aims to put clients at their ease from the first contact. I believe it is important to go at a client's own pace, using gentle encouragement to allow self expression, as we work together towards aims, however basic. I hope to give people tools to enable them to help themselves more in the future, but will not apply pressure for any particular method to achieve this goal, as everyone is different and needs to find their own way with recovery.

I am registered with the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and worked for many years in the field of mental health. I practise principally within a person-centred/humanistic framework, but incorporate other therapeutic principles as appropriate.

An exploratory chat is always helpful before commencing the counselling, and to establish whether or not both client and counsellor feel that to go ahead would be constructive. You are invited to leave a message or text with your telephone number on my mobile 'phone, if that is easiest. Alternatively, you can email me. Whichever method you choose, I will respond promptly.

I am normally flexible in terms of location, and use rooms in Okehampton regularly. At the moment I am, of course, working from home.

I am also a trained and practising counselling supervisor - see separate profile on this site.