Samuel Clarke

About me and my therapy practice
 
How I work
 
If you have arrived at this page it is most likely that there is something in your life that does not feel right, or you are concerned for a friend or relative where something does not feel right.
 
Firstly let me acknowledge your courage to reach out for help as this shows that you have sufficient awareness of your need for change.  We live in a world that often projects that it is selfish to get your needs met.  My belief is that we must get our true needs met before we can effectively help others with their needs. 
 
Secondly, it is perfectly normal for people to struggle at different stages of their lives – most of us do – but these struggles may make us feel very lonely and isolated.
 
Thirdly, your struggle is your struggle.  It is easy to dismiss our struggles by finding someone else with more ‘apparent’ problems’ but my interest is to help you manage your unique issues and I will treat you as a valuable individual.
 
I come from the Humanistic school of counselling, based on Transactional Analysis and believe that you have the answers to your problems within you. You are the expert on you even if sometimes you do not know it.
 
It is most likely that you will have experienced situations where simply discussing an issue with a friend somehow makes the issue ‘lighter’.
 
As your counsellor I have the advantage of not being you friend, I am truly independent of your friends and family and thus there is no need for you to censor what you want to say or discuss.  I see my primary role being to provide you with a safe and secure, non-judgemental space where you can be heard.  I will facilitate you to gain your understanding and awareness of what it is that is troubling you and, with that awareness, you will be equipped to make different choices in your life.
 
My philosophy about counselling is that it is about dealing with your issue here and now, but to understand this we are likely to need to consider your earlier experiences.  Very often what is causing an issue today is the use of an old strategy that was probably very helpful at an earlier time and place in your life when it was developed.
 
Practice Description
 
I offer a friendly confidential counselling service providing a space where you can be truly heard.  My practice is primarily based on Transactional Analysis (TA) which is particularly strong at identifying the unwritten rules that distort our lives and our relationships with others be it at a personal level, a family level, or in the work or other community environments.
 
As a qualified member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP),  I have a wide experience of working empathetically with adults at all stages of life, offering a warm atmosphere free from judgement.  As a BACP member I am bound by appropriate professional standards, including the obligation to have regular clinical supervision of my work and to follow the BACP Ethical Framework.
 
I aim to provide a space for true, authentic communication between myself and you as my client.
 
It is difficult to determine at the outset how long counselling will be required so I offer long-term work for as long as needed.
 
My work is primarily face-to-face but I am happy to consider Online work.
 
My First Session
 
You will arrive at your first session, possibly with a high degree of anxiety asking yourself the question “how is this going to help me?”, indeed, “what do I actually need help with?”  You may well want to turn round when you get to the door feeling this is a stupid thing to be doing, trying to talk yourself out of it.
 
I urge you to ‘see it through’.  You will enter the room and sit down with this complete stranger.  Amazingly there is something about this stranger that quickly begins to make you feel safe and your initial anxiety begins to subside.
 
During the first part of the session you will be dealing with the administration and the practicalities, in particular getting the contract agreed.  This time will be your first opportunity to see that this counsellor appears to really listen to you, quietly and patiently.  He has started saying that this is ‘your space’, a place for you to feel safe about discussing anything you need, and your beginning to really feel that security.
 
In the second part of the session you will be invited to introduce why you had felt the need/want to seek counselling and you notice that you are really being listened to in a way that you have very rarely experienced; listened to without a sense of judgement.
 
When this first session finishes you are extremely unlikely to have ‘resolved your issue’ but you will leave with a sense that this really is going to be a safe space in which to do ‘the work’ necessary to alleviate your problems – you will be cautiously optimistic about returning next week for session two.
 
Contact

Please contact me by email, text or phone to find out more about how I can help.  Beginning counselling can be daunting and I aim to make the beginning as comfortable as possible.  Our first contact will be free and there will be no-obligation for you to agree to sessions with me, though my hope is that you will feel confident that I will be able to help you and we can arrange the practicalities of your attending a first session.

My primary availability is for sessions on Wednesday's and Thursday's between 9.00am and 5.00pm, face to face or online.  There is also a possibility of sessions later than 5.00pm on those two days.

I offer a free, no obligation, initial telephone or online conversation of up to 45 minutes, where you will get the opportunity to see if my style of working is right for you and for me to assess whether I can meet your needs.

During a career in the corporate world, rising to senior management roles, I discovered that the aspect of work that I most enjoyed was the development of the potential of staff members.  This led to my retraining as a counsellor but also means I bring a deep understanding of the work place into my work as a counsellor.