Simon Paul Brooks
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
'I am a qualified counsellor with a private practice in Hastings East Sussex.
I hold a diploma in counselling in Transactional Analysis (TA). I am a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).Also The National Counselling Society.(ACCRED)
I started my counselling/psychotherapy training in 2006. I believe that working together in a safe and confidential place we can work on any deep seated feelings and emotions which might be causing distress.
HOW COUNSELLING CAN HELP
Counselling is basically about intense talking and listening. It is a facilitative process whereby individuals come to terms with their own thoughts and emotions. It enables people to become unstuck to make important changes in their lives and realize their potential. It makes connections between past and present events and current patterns of behaviour.
Counselling can help to reassert control over your life and help with the feeling such as bereavement or other losses, depression, anxiety, stress, anger or low self esteem which might be affecting you. I
will be trying to help you discover resources within yourself which can help you function better in the future.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN YOUR FIRST SESSION.
In our initial session you can begin to discuss what problems or difficulties you are experiencing. We will discuss what you want to get from counselling or psychotherapy and agree when we will meet.
During our initial sessions we will further develop our agreement as to the out comes of your work with me. You can change these and amend them at any time during our work. In these sessions I can begin to understand what you are experiencing in your life and work with you to bring to your awareness the beliefs and patterns that you may feel are no longer useful to you.
At the start of every counselling relationship some form of client assessment must be made. The reason for this evaluation is to allow the counsellor the opportunity to clearly understand the problems the client wishes to address and improve. Developing a clear and through picture of the client is an essential part of the initial stages of any counselling/psychotherapy process. There should be a good balance between letting the client tell their story, and 'offload' to some extent and obtaining information that is useful in developing the clients case formulation.
Awareness is the ability to live in the present moment, perceiving it without interruption. Many of us without being aware of this avoid living in the moment for much of the time. We ruminate about the past and plan for the future constantly thinking about what has past and what comes next. Vibrant and clear contact with the here-and-now experience and the stimulation of our senses is clouded and interrupted by memories of past influences, parental or cultural instructions of how to be in the world and how to perceive it.
Training, qualifications & experience
I hold a Diploma in counselling. I trained for 4 years as a Transactional Analysis counsellor/psychotherapist.
I have also worked as a volunteer in this capacity with CRUSE bereavement services.
Crime reduction initiatives (working with heroin addiction)
Also within a busy local GP service.
I have certificates of training for:
- Working with issues of self esteem
- Working with Anxiety and Depression
- Cognitive behavioural Therapy
- Substance misuse services
- Bereavement services
- Transactional Analysis Theory
I also work as a manager in an operating theatre in a busy local hospital and am registered with the Health Professions Counsel for this. I also trained as an operating department practitioner in Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge specialising in anaesthetics and have worked in operating theatres all over the country.
I have a served in the British Army as a combat medic in Africa, Central America and Northern Ireland.
The experiences in life that these jobs have given me have pushed me towards learning how people work internally and how people relate to each other.
The goals of Transactional Analysis counselling is Autonomy, I always progress towards this in my practice and the recovery of its three capacities, Awareness, spontaneity and intimacy. I believe that people strive towards health and flourish if given the right conditions.
I practice from the philosophical base of a humanistic psychology that the counsellor and client both make important contributions.
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
Fees
Additional information
I charge £35.00 per session
When I work
Monday evening 1830-20.00. Wednesday 0800-1900. Thursday evening 18.30-20.00.. Saturday 0930 1400.
Further information
The therapeutic relationship is unique in that for many clients, it is the first intimate connection they have had with another person where profound feelings, beliefs and thoughts are exposed. The therapeutic relationship can be remarkable in the significance they have for the people involved.
We are born into a powerful ,usually loving relationship; we learn to define ourselves through relationship; and throughout our life our evaluation of ourselves is especially influenced by relationship. Equally, it is relationship that can be most destructive to us.
If damage is caused through relationship, then healing can come from relationship.