Dr Sharmaline Attygalle
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am a fully qualified and experienced Integrative Psychotherapist with a specialism in Eating Disorders.
I run my own private practice called Your Haven Counselling where I support Adults, Young People and Children with online therapy.
I will offer you a safe and confidential therapeutic space in order for us to establish our therapeutic relationship. This will enable you, when you are ready, to slowly open up and explore.
As your therapist, I will listen and hear you, I will provide you with support, whether you struggle with disordered eating or with an eating disorder, to get a better perspective of where you find yourself. We will work collaboratively to explore and understand your relationship with food and your relationship with the self. I will facilitate you to make the changes you wish to make. I will also guide you, as an individual with unique experiences, to process what has brought you to this point in the present. The therapy will involve strengthening your motivation and willingness to engage in the process while exploring the often prevalent ambivalence and resistance to change.
I have a diploma in Practitioner Skills for Eating Disorders and a certificate in Nutritional Interventions for Eating Disorders both from NCFED. I continue to gain an in-depth expertise and experience in supporting people living with Eating Disorders; Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge-Eating Disorder (BED), Rumination Disorder, Pica. I also support clients with neurodiversity who have eating disorders and the associated co-morbidities.
The therapeutic work will consider the whole of you and involve Nutritional Rehabilitation and Cognitive-Emotional therapy.
The Nutritional Rehabilitation includes the exploration of ED rules and family scripts, psycho-education, the stabilisation of the blood sugar, demystifying diet behaviour, establishing regular and balanced nutritional intake and the work on restriction, binge-eating, purging and exercise.
The Cognitive-Emotional therapy includes work on your ED mind-set with its faulty thoughts and rigid routines and habits, regulating your emotions such as anxiety, depression, stress, guilt and shame, gender and body image concerns, your self-esteem and confidence, the presence of perfectionism, learning assertiveness skills, your relationships and when required any trauma work.
Therapy is a journey and it is your journey. The work does not promise to be easy and there will be many ups and downs. The therapeutic work will however be an opportunity for you to gain a better insight, make sense of your experiences and feel empowered to set yourself free. I hope to gently guide and challenge your exploration, the evolving therapeutic process and enable you to gain autonomy.
I am an accredited member of the BACP and I abide by their ethical framework and their code of conduct. In therapy I will safeguard you and aim to offer you the best possible service.
Please feel free to visit my website www.yourhaven-counselling.co.uk for more information about me and the therapy I offer.
Training, qualifications & experience
Current Employment:
- Eating Disorders Psychotherapist running my own Private Practice called Your Haven Counselling.
Past Employment:
- Eating Disorders Psychotherapist at Orri - Eating Disorders Treatment Clinic on Hallam Street, London
- College Counsellor at Bellerbys College Cambridge - a Private International College for students studying for their A-levels and Foundation year
- Centre 33 - charity for children and young people from the ages of 13-25 years
- JHD Counselling Services - Therapy for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Cambridge University Colleges
- Talk to Stars - Bereavement Therapy for children in primary and secondary schools
- Family Play Therapy sessions - Families in the midst of domestic violence
- Workshops and Talks
Qualifications:
- Accredited MBACP
- Autism and Eating Disorders/ARFID with NCAMH
- NCFED Certificate in Nutritional Interventions for Eating Disorders
- NCFED Diploma in Practical Skills for Eating Disorders
- Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
- Diploma in Working with Depression
- BSc Psychology
- MBBS Medicine
I have a MBBS in medicine and a BSc in Psychology. I find the knowledge and experience I have received in these fields extremely valuable in offering the best practice as a psychotherapist for my clients.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
I have a special interest in Eating Disorders and its many multi-faceted aspects such as nutritional rehabilitation primarily consisting of behavioural work and the cognitive and emotional work. The cognitive and emotional work is intricately involved in the neural pathways of the brain with strong core beliefs and hot emotions such as shame and guilt.
I consider the whole person - the nutrition, ED mindset, rigid rules and habits, perfectionism, self-esteem and self-worth, identity, relationships, assertiveness and boundaries, values, body image, stress management, trauma, co-existing disorders such as anxiety, depression, OCD, PCOS and much more.
Therapies offered
Fees
£90.00 - £110.00
Free initial telephone session
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
- Individual therapy sessions
- Short-term or long-term therapy
- Online sessions
- 50-minute sessions
- Weekly
- A free 20-minute phone consultation
I offer an initial assessment for us to meet and discuss what brought you to therapy and the possible hopes and aspirations you have for therapy. It is also an opportunity for us to get to know a little about each other and to find out if we are happy to continue further sessions together. The therapeutic relationship is crucial and so it is really important to choose a therapist whom you can engage with and feel safe to open up to.
We will review the therapeutic process at regular intervals and assess how the therapy is going.
Please feel free to contact me to discuss any questions you may have about starting therapy.
Please feel free to book a free phone consultation as your first step.
When I work
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Mondays - Thursdays 10:00-20:00
Fridays 10:00-13:00
