Sheromi Macken

Welcome, Life can be overwhelming at times, it can also feel very stressful and can block us from moving forward. Whether you are a child learning to understand your emotions, dealing with learning difficulties, bullying and if you are a teenager having difficulties facing new pressures. Or an adult trying to work hard through your current relationships, trying to be visible at work or at home. I can help you. 

I will provide a safe space that is convenient for you, to spend sharing your concerns and worries without judgement. I will support you to discover your own solutions and strengths.  I draw from diverse range of therapeutic theories and techniques to meet you exactly where you are, this might include elements of cognitive Behavioral therapy, mindfulness practices, solution focus approaches and play for young children. The method we use together will depend entirely on what feels right for you and what serves your unique needs and goals. You can expect a warm, collaborative relationship built on trust and respect. My commitment to you is to honor your experience, support your natural capacity for healing and growth, and provide the tools and insights that genuinely serves your wellbeing. 

In our sessions you can expect complete confidentiality, genuine empathy. I am committed to ongoing professional development to ensure that I am offering you the most effective support, this include regular supervision, continuing education and staying current with best practices in mental health care. I believe that seeking support is a sign of strength and it takes wisdom to recognise when we need help and courage to reach out for it. whatever brings you to counselling, I am here to support you with respect, compassion and hope for your journey ahead. 

When I am not counselling, I find renewal in listening to relevant podcasts, reading books and study up-to-date research on mental health. I also spend time in nature with my dogs and my family. Maintaining my own wellbeing helps me to show up fully present for my clients. Self-care is not selfish, it is essential for anyone in the helping professions. 

I look forward to the possibility of working with you or your child. Please feel free to reach out if  you have any questions about my approach or would like to arrange an initial free consultation. 

One area I am particularly passionate about is supporting Children through trauma and adults through childhood trauma.

Children requires a completely different approach than adult therapy. Their healing to trauma happens through play, creativity, and felt safety rather that traditional talk therapy. I specialise in creating therapeutic environments where children can heal naturally, at their own pace, without being overwhelmed or retraumatised. Children can be impacted by many experiences that adults might not immediately recognise as traumatic. Family separation, Death, Accidents, Bullying, Natural disasters, Moving home, Neglect, Being separated. 

Children's minds are incredibly adaptive and when something is too painful or confusing to understand, the psyche may, block out specific memories while keeping the emotional impact, minimise experiences, dissociate mentally during overwhelming moments, create internal stories that make sense of confusing experiences and develop fierce independence to avoid vulnerability. These protective mechanisms serves a child well but they can create confusing symptoms in adulthood where adults feel the effects without understanding the cause.

Trauma shows up in children such as regression in behaviours, bed wetting, fear of sleeping alone, sudden changes in behaviour or moods, withdrawal from activities, difficulty concentrating, physical complaints without medical causes, repetitive play themes, aggressive behaviour and fear of separation.

My child-Centered approach is that children heal through relationship, safety, and play. Having a absolute safe place to welcome the child, filled with toys, art supplies and comfort items. Meeting the child exactly where they are emotionally and developmentally, participation in activities at their own pace  and letting the child lead the session while providing gentle guidance, building the trust slowly and honoring the child's natural defenses.  I also recognise that supporting a traumatised child means supporting their entire family system without breaking confidentiality. Recovery is a family journey and I will be here to guide and support everyone involved in the child's healing process.

Supporting childhood Trauma Healing. Before we explore any difficult territory, we spend time building what trauma specialists call 'resources' your toolkit for staying grounded and regulated, helping the nervous system to relax, building awareness of your body's signals and honoring them. My  work is guided by understanding how trauma affects the whole person. Mind, body and spirit. we will work together to focus on building your sense of agency by going at your pace. Offering choices whenever possible to restore sense of control, celebrating small victories and building confidence, helping children to understand that their reactions are normal, teaching about the brain and body's response to scary things, normalising big feelings and providing tools to manage them, creating simple explanations for confusing experiences, building emotional vocabulary through play and stories.

Often adults seek therapy for seemingly unrelated issues, only to discover connections they had forgotten or dismissed, these suppressed traumatic experiences can manifest as, unexplained anxiety and panic attacks in certain situations, sleep disturbances, nightmares, digestive issues, feeling disconnected, compulsive behaviours such as overeating. Emotional numbness and overwhelming feelings, sham and self-blame, trust issues, people pleasing and boundary issues and self sabotage when things are going well.

Adults who are recognising how childhood experiences continue to influence their present-day life. Connecting with your younger parts of yourself that carry old pain. It is about bringing compassion to the child you were who did their best to survive by acknowledging the resourcefulness and strength of your younger self. offering comfort and validation that was not available then, helping to understand that child's perspective with adult wisdom, developing a nurturing voice to counter old critical messages. Separate what happened to your from who your are.

Therapeutic method that I draw from depends on what serves you best, from Somatic approach when working with body sensations, EMDR principles, helping the brain process stuck memories, Internal Family Systems concept, understanding different parts of yourself, Attachment theory, exploring how early relationships shaped your patterns. Mindfulness practices, developing present moment awareness and self- compassion, Creative therapies, using art, imagery when words are not enough and Narrative therapy, helping you become the author of your story. 

Trauma lives in the body not just in the mind and much of the work will be involve, learning to listen to your body's signals without fear, releasing chronic tension and hypervigilance gradually, reconnecting with your body as a source of wisdom rather than danger, understanding how trauma symptoms are your body's attempt to protect you and developing a sense of safety and home within your own skin. 

Call or book an appointment for a 15-minute free initial assessment.

​This gives you the opportunity to discuss your situation, and from that we can we can create a plan on how we can best work together and discuss any important issues such as confidentiality. During this time I will ask to obtain your email to send you the counselling agreement and once that is read and signed we can proceed to booking you in for a counselling session.

Each session costs 50 pounds and must be paid for upfront prior to the session. Initially, I offer 6 sessions as a block payment of £260.00. I offer flexible working hours, before bedtime for children and after work for adults. I am available during the day, lunch times and evenings. For online work, I will send you a link to your email. You don't have to worry about anything else. Please call to discuss anything else. Thank you for your time. 

You can Pay via Bank Transfer.  

My working hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. I offer F2F in Odiham and Basingstoke. I will provide a link for online therapy for you to click to start the session.

My therapeutic approach to counselling is integrative which means I am able to adapt my way of working to each individual person be that short- or long-term therapy.