About me
Speaking to a therapist can be very different to speaking to a friend or family member. It’s a unique experience to spend 50 minutes talking about yourself and the things that are on your mind.
If your worries and anxiety feel overwhelming, if your low mood is stopping you from living the life you want to, if you feel disconnected from yourself or your relationships, or you feel stuck, stressed, angry and frustrated - or you just need someone to listen to you - then this could be the space you need to start making a change.
Hi, I'm Sonya and I offer a warm, compassionate and collaborative space for your therapy. I’m a qualified integrative therapist (registered with the BACP) and I have a master’s degree in psychology. Working integratively means that we can draw on different therapeutic models depending on what's most beneficial for you, and I can adapt the way I work to suit your needs.
How I work
Sometimes you might need a more reflective approach to talk something through, or a slower pace to explore something more complex. Other times, a more structured approach to work on something specific might be helpful. Or perhaps you know you need to be challenged, and we can bring that into our sessions.
I work primarily with person-centred, CBT and psychodynamic approaches:
- person-centred therapy allows you the space to speak freely, to explore your feelings and to develop valuable self-awareness and understanding of your authentic self
- using CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) techniques we can consider how your thoughts, emotions and behaviours interact and how your nervous system might be responding to anxiety, stress and overwhelm. We can also look at helpful tools that you can apply in your everyday life to regulate your nervous system and begin changing the thought processes and behaviour patterns that are not serving you well
- using a psychodynamic approach, we can explore where some of your beliefs about yourself and patterns of behaviour might have come from. With that awareness you can begin to understand how they might be affecting you today and how you can make the changes that you want to
I continue to develop my practice through ongoing training and CPD in other theories and models (including ACT and IFS), and these can form part of our work together. It’s a holistic approach to help you address what you’re struggling with and gain the insight you need to improve your emotional wellbeing and see changes in how you relate to yourself, to others and to the world around you.
Who I work with
I work with adults of all ages supporting a wide range of experiences and challenges, including: anxiety, low mood, grief and loss, feelings of emotional overwhelm, relationship challenges, overthinking and rumination, lack of purpose and direction, loss of confidence and low self-esteem, feelings of guilt, frustration and stress, managing life changes, living with ill-health…
I currently offer online and phone sessions, and a free 20-minute introductory call if you'd like to see if we'd be a good fit to work together.
Please feel free to drop me an email if you'd like to book an introductory call, or if you have any questions about working with me.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications:
- MSc Psychology
- Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (Integrative), BACP approved
Additional skills and continued professional development (CPD) including: working in a trauma informed way, working with anxiety and depression, applying theories of grief to practice, understanding neurodiversity (particularly ADHD), understanding emotionally abusive relationships, ACT: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, IFS: Internal Family Systems.
Professional Accreditation
- Member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy)
- Graduate Member of the BPS (British Psychological Society)
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
£55.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I offer a free 20-minute introductory call if you'd like to see if we'd be a good fit to work together, and to give you the opportunity to ask any questions you have about me or the process.
I have flexible availability Monday - Thursday, including some early evening slots.
Further information
Getting started
If we've had our intro call and we've decided to work together, then I'll send you my terms and conditions, and a contract and intake form to complete before our first session.
Each session will be 50 minutes and will usually be at the same time each week, by arrangement.
In the first session we'll start to get to know each other and we'll talk about your goals for therapy and what you might like to address. We'll regularly review how the sessions are going and how you're finding the overall process, and we'll make adjustments where necessary. All our sessions will be grounded in compassion and empathy, and we'll always go at your pace.
There's no commitment to a minimum number of sessions. But as a guideline, 6 sessions give you time to explore some initial themes and to settle into the process. For some people, that's all they need, others prefer to carry on longer term. It really depends on you and what you'd like to explore, and it's always your choice to continue with sessions.
If you'd like to book an introductory call or have any questions, then please feel free to email me.
