About me
Are you struggling to get through a challenging time in your life, trying to work through painful loss or change, or looking to break what feel like unhealthy re-occurring patterns?
Do you feel paralysed by a tangle of feelings, thoughts and worries?
Do you sometimes feel you have a self-blaming or self-punishing enemy within?
How can counselling help us?
For most of us, the path of life takes us through periods of difficulty. It is common to go through times of intense stress, to face situations that feel beyond what we can cope with, or to experience loss and the dark times that can follow it. Sometimes, trying to get through difficult times can also mean that we become knotted up in anxiety, confusion, self-doubt or low mood and depression.
As I have found through personal experience, counselling can be a great help in times of intense difficulty or crisis. I have also been thankful to discover that - if it works well - counselling can also bring deep and lasting change.
My approach
My role as a humanistic counsellor is to help you to re-establish your connection to your own inner valuing system - your natural, inbuilt sense of what is good and right.
I offer the person-centred approach that I believe draws from our natural human ability to keep ourselves and each other emotionally well: I listen very carefully to all you are expressing or trying to express. I strive to understand you and see things through your eyes. I see you positively and non-judgmentally and believe you are wherever you need to be. I am genuine and being my truest self.
My hope is that our work together will allow you to:
- Process and work through difficult experiences, loss and change
- Reduce and resolve inner conflict by hearing and understanding the different feelings and viewpoints you are holding
- Free yourself from the fear of others’ judgement of you
- Be more honest with yourself and face your feelings with curiosity, not fear
- Care for yourself better
- Build your trust in your own instincts
- Trust your own emotions to work as a guide
- Understand and accept others more easily
- Value your whole self, not just the parts that please others
- Strengthen your connection to your own inner compass that will gradually help you to know what you believe and want, to recognise what you value most and the path you want to follow
Areas of support
I have a great deal of experience of working with clients to find a way through a painful and confusing tangle of feelings, to resolve inner conflicts or become free of the misery brought by harsh and critical inner voices.
I have studied the effect of early life experiences and how these feed into the person we become - and especially, how they can fix us on a path towards what we feel we “should” be. I have grown to understand the part our society and culture plays in reinforcing these messages to ourselves. I also understand how being what we think we “should” be often leads to problems with anxiety, depression and low self-worth.
I am passionate about helping clients - as they work through difficult times - to discover their individual strengths and to feel their authentic selves. Nothing is more rewarding to me than hearing clients start to trust themselves more, to grow in self-belief and to engage more confidently with the people and situations in their lives.
I feel particularly drawn to supporting clients affected by bereavement or loss. Through my work, I have valued the opportunity to learn about our natural grieving process and our natural response to loss. I have also come to understand much about what can go wrong with this and the blocks that can form to stop us processing our grief and leave us feeling ‘stuck’.
I have extensive experience of supporting clients with a wide range of issues that include:
- Stress
- Depression and low mood
- Anxiety
- Bereavement
- Loss
- Traumatic experience
- Self-esteem issues
- Living with illness and life-limiting conditions
- Adverse childhood experiences
- Relationship issues and divorce
- Identity issues
- Family problems
- Work-related issues
- Abuse and violence
- Bullying
- Addiction and substance dependence
- Anger issues
- Living with neurodiversity
I usually work in a client-led way - taking your lead on what we talk about, how long we focus on it and the depth to which we explore it.
I am always happy though, if it feels helpful - to offer suggestions, to share theories I’ve learned about or common experiences/patterns I have observed or to offer guidance in useful techniques such as grounding, mindfulness, breathing and relaxation.
Training, qualifications & experience
About me
I have been practising as a counsellor for 6 years and have supported people of all ages and from many different backgrounds.
I currently work in an in-house counselling service for a large GP practice in Cheshire where I have supported clients affected by a wide range of issues.
I worked until recently for a bereavement charity in Staffordshire where I have supported clients from many different backgrounds affected by bereavement, loss or life-limiting illness. As part of my role, I also facilitated our organisation’s bereavement support groups for those who wished to work through their grief alongside others.
Prior to training as a counsellor, I worked teaching adults in the Further Education sector for around 20 years.
Credentials
I am a Registered Member of the British Association Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP)
I trained at Keele University, where I gained an MSc in Counselling Psychology. I have been practising since 2019 and have completed around 5000 counselling hours.
Qualifications
- MSc in Counselling Psychology (Keele University)
- Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Keele University)
- L4 Certificate in Online Counselling (OCST)
- MA in Education/Post Graduate Certificate & Diploma in Advanced Teaching and Learning
- (Centre for Excellence in Leadership/Oxford Brookes University)
- BA (Hons) English Literature/Religious Studies/Dip HE French (University of Manchester)
- Post Graduate Certificate in Education - Further, Adult and Higher (Manchester Metropolitan University)
- L5 Diploma in Adult Literacy (Staffordshire University)
- L4 Certificate in Teaching Basic Skills (City and Guilds)
- Training the Teacher Trainers - M level (London South Bank University/LLU+)
- L3 Dyslexia Awareness (OCN)
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
£30.00 - £60.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Per session face to face £60
Per session online £55
Concessions are available
When I work
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Further information
How I work
I offer both short-term long-term support and work both face-to-face in treatment rooms in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Sandbach, and online via video or phone calls or a mixture of both.
I can offer you regular weekly appointments or am happy to work in a more flexible way depending on your needs.
Each session lasts up to 50 minutes.
Prices
I charge £55 per session when working online and £60 for face-to-face sessions.
