Sonya Suter
Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Welcome and thank you for taking the time to read my profile. I hope you find what you are looking for.
I appreciate how difficult it can feel reaching out for the first time. Trusting someone with your life story. Allowing yourself to express your feelings with a complete stranger can feel a big step when entering therapy. To help you make a decision as to whether I am the right therapist for you please read the following which will inform you about my practice.
Free consultation (Client’s, supervisee’s and trainee counsellors)
I offer a free 20-minute consultation online or over the phone. A free consultation is a one-on-one conversation that is provided for free as a way to share your thoughts and discuss possible opportunities of working together. We can discuss what you would like from therapy and I can explain how I work. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions and for me to see whether I feel I have the expertise to help you on your journey. After this consultation we can consider next steps if we choose to proceed.
For supervisee’s, trainee counsellors and psychotherapists the consultation will be to explore your needs in the supervisory relationship or training process and whether I am the right supervisor for you.
Premises
My therapy room is in the NG18 2 area of Mansfield. I am a 10 minute walk from the bus station. Parking is available on sight free of charge. The building I work from has a reception area, there is a lift and a ramp for those who need wheelchair access. There is a caretaker on sight. My room is light, with windows and offers a calm and relaxed environment.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have over 20-years experience of working with adults and children who have experienced emotional challenges and difficulties in life. I have worked in substance misuse for 18-years , led and managed projects associated with trauma and set up counselling services in two criminal justice settings. I have worked in sexual violence for 7 years and spent 4 years teaching on a level 3 & 4 counselling course. Alongside the above roles I have my own private practice as a psychotherapist for over 15 years.
I have completed three counselling courses a coaching course, clinical supervision and a teaching qualification (Please see more details of my training and Continued Professional Development and the end of this profile)
I have worked with clients who have experienced many challenges, here are just a few…..
- Traumatic events -relationship trauma as a child or adult (please see more details about this below)
- Recent trauma such car accidents, accidents at work.
- Family issues
- Low self-esteem/self-confidence
- Loss of identity, job, relationship, child, pregnancy, children leaving home
Dis-satisfaction with life or job - Bullying at school, work or other environments.
Relationship difficulties with partners, children, siblings & work - Feeing stuck
- Struggles with learning differences/disabilities such as ADHD, dyslexia, autism, OCD)
- Drug & alcohol dependency.
- Addiction
- Physical and emotional difficulties associated with the COVID pandemic
- Feeling stressed
- Poor mental health
- Bereavement
You may find such events leave you feeling overwhelmed, lost and not sure which way to turn. You may experience some of the following symptoms and behaviours as a result of this of your difficult experience....
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Over-thinking
- Intrusive thoughts
- Anger
- Disappointed with self or others
- Guilt
- Blame
- Shame
- Embarrassment
- Suffering with a physical or psychological symptoms that cannot be explained.
- Feeling Isolated/alone
- A fear of burdening others, consequently leaving you feeling you need to stay quiet and strong
- Pushing feelings away and keeping yourself busy by distracting yourself or participating in behaviours that avoid you feeling the discomfort.
I want to let you know ‘its ok’. When life and events get in the way they can disrupt the very heart of who we are and your general well-being. This can leave you feeling conflicted, unable to make decisions and stuck. You may find relationships are affected and you become submissive for an easy life or constantly feel agitated by those close to you. When you feel this way it's easy to convince yourself things are not so bad today and you feel you will be ok, but then you notice you become easily triggered and all the overwhelming feelings come flooding back.
Talking about this and expressing your feelings can feel a huge relief. Research tells us how important talking about our problems/feelings is and the positive impact this can have on mental and physical health.
In therapy I can help you understand why you are feeling the way you do and why now.? There may be past events impacting life in the present or you may be wondering why you are struggling to cope. We can explore this together and I can help you gain insight and understanding to what is going on with your own unique body and how it is trying to communicate with you through the symptoms you are experiencing. As an Integrative Psychotherapist I am trained in working with Cognitive Behaviour Techniques, here we will explore strategies to help you navigate your way forward, improve your well-being and mental and physical health.
You will need the right therapist for you, an environment where you can be honest and let go of all that needs to be released. You will need a confidential space, trust, a non-judgemental environment and an environment where you can be your true self. This is crucial and important to me as your therapist. I pride myself on making sure the environment is comfortable for you, giving you the freedom and safety you need to explore and deserve.
Therapy has no limits, you can take it as far as you want it to go, it’s your choice. You may be looking for therapy to help you with a specific current or historical problem/concern. Some client’s achieve and end therapy and others wish to continue on their journey of self-discovery and explore their full potential. Some clients tell me they feel they have re-invented themselves. Like I have said, it’s your choice.
As a Integrative Counsellor & Psychotherapist (Person-centred, CBT, attachment theories)
I will work with your needs. As a counsellor I can work with you short-term on specific issues and strategies. As a qualified Psychotherapist our work may be long term and delve deeper and uncover the root causes of the difficulties you are experiencing. This may be relevant to those who have experienced past trauma or adversity in childhood. Psychotherapy helps to understand deeper thoughts, feelings and emotions and can evoke personal growth and transformation.
I specialise in working with trauma and traumatic events. Trauma I feel is best described as ‘an event/events that effects our capacity to cope on a daily basis”. What one may experience as traumatic another may not. It’s a very individual experience and can depend on the environment and support or lack of support you had at the time as to how you coped in the past and present.
When trauma is experienced as a child you may not have realised this is what it is. This may be because as a child your experience became the new normal as you were not in a position to do anything about the situation at the time. Or perhaps you were not heard or too scared to say anything due to worrying it may upset others or make matters worse if you talk about what is bothering you. You could have been afraid of not being believed.
It's not unusual for trauma to remain trapped in the body. To help trauma leave the body you will need to get on the other side of it. This means it has to be processed. We can talk about your experience in your own time and at your pace. I can help you understand how it manifests in your body, work somatically which means we may work with where you hold trauma in your body. We can explore strategies to help it release via breath work and specific exercise and strategies to help you manage the feelings in the moment. With practice and ongoing improved self awareness I can help you disempower the overwhelming feelings and feel more empowered within through the changes your make. We can discuss this further if relevant.
During our work together I can support you build a healthier relationship with yourself and others. This is important for healing as without it you may find yourself continuing to give yourself a hard time, being unkind to yourself and being you own worst critic. This can feel exhausting.
Learning Differences or Disabilities
During my career I have worked with many clients who have a learning difference or disability. I choose the word difference alongside disability as I am aware some clients do not feel they have a disability yet feel different. In time many client’s have learned to accept their differences in our work and feel their difference is a gift.
You may not learn in ways society or education systems would prefer you to. You will have your own unique learning style and have skills and strengths in different areas. You may have a creative mind, be sensory, very good at sport or good with your hands. You may find you learn best visually, through experience, movement, sound or touch. I have first-hand experience of some of the feelings associated with having a learning difference/disability and the barriers and struggles associated with this either personally, in schools, colleges, work-place and relationships. It can take sometime to identify your skill set and your unique learning style. I can help you find that and overcome some of the challenges and barriers you are experiencing and be proud of your uniqueness and skill set.
Individual Coaching
I work with adults who are looking to achieve goals and aspirations. You may find thoughts, feelings and emotions are holding you back. You might find yourself stuck in a situation, setting and struggling to move forward. Core beliefs that you have about yourself or high and unrealistic expectations from self and others may leave you over thinking and pro-crastinating. This can leave you with low energy, fearful and little movement. Together we can set an Action plan based upon your goals and break it down into small achievable steps.
My practice
I offer a free 20 minute consultation over the phone or online prior to your first appointment if you wish to take advantage of this. This session is time for us to become acquainted and a space for any questions and to see if we can work together. It may help you with any anxiety you are feeling about taking those first steps in therapy. If we feel we can work together and I am the right therapist for you we will agree a date and time to carry out the assessment.
Assessment and future sessions
In your first appointment the assessment will take approximately 50 minutes. This is a standard process in Counselling/Psychotherapy. This involves standard questions around medical history, support, what you would like from counselling and a little about your history. It gives you an opportunity to tell me in more depth what your are finding difficult at this time in your life and how this is impacting you. I will send you a contract that clarifies how my counselling service works, payment terms, GPDR, cancellations and other value information. Upon completing this we will then schedule in future appointments.
Face to face appointments I offer face to face appointments for those in the Mansfield/Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire area or any living outside these areas. Face to face appointment are offered in the NG18 4 area.
Online I offer online appointments. Here we will agree an appointment time and I will send you a link prior to the appointment. If you are not sure about the online forum and struggle with feeling confident with IT I can help you.
Telephone I offer appointments over the phone depending on circumstances
Costs
Counselling and Psychotherapy Sessions are 50 minutes long and cost £55
Concessions are available for trainee counsellors at a cost of £45
Coaching
Coaching sessions can be for one or two hours at £60 per hour
Qualifications
- 2023-Certificate in Education-Huddersfield University
- 2020-Level 7-Certificate in Supervision. Centre for Supervision & Team Development London
- 2019-Level 7-Msc Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy. (Accredited BACP) University of Derby
- 2016-Level 5-Certificate in Coaching & Mentoring. (Accredited ILM) XUE
- 2016- Level 4-Diploma in Counselling Children & Adolescents (Accredited BACP) Lindum College
- 2008-Level 3-Certificate in Substance Misuse. North Notts College
- 2003-Level 3-Advanced Diploma in Counselling. Loughborough College
- 1999-Certificate in Counselling Skills. Loughborough College
Continued Professional Development ·
- Safeguarding Adults & Children Advanced-Online
- Autism Awareness-Online
- Child Mental Health Safety Awareness-Online
- Child Online Safety Awareness-Online
- Understanding South Asian Clients (The Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute)
- Outdoor Therapy (The Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute)
- Working relationally as a psychotherapist with clients with sexual compulsivity (The Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute)
- The Divided Brain (The Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute)
- Coercive Control, Physical & Sexual Violence in Intimate Relationships
- Understanding the Spectrum of Domestic Abuse (PESI UK online- Christine Sanderson)
- Emotional Eating, Chronic Dieting, Bingeing and Body Image: What every clinician Needs to know (PESI UK-Online-Judith Matz)
- Using Constellation Work in Supervision (Richard Spence)
- The Hungry Ghost, A Biopsychosocial Perspective on Addiction, Heroin to Workaholism (Gabor Mate)
- Prevent Training (Northyorks.gov.uk)
- Working with children & young people (SV2)
- Trauma Training (Change, Grow, Live (Cgl)
- Routine Enquiry for Adversity in Childhood (Warren Larkin & Associates)
- Somatic Psychology Integrated into Evidence (Ariella Schwartz)
- Working with Shame (Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Disorders (PODS)
- Working with Relational Depth (Mick Cooper) 23.2.19 Psychophysiology of PTSD and Trauma: How we can make trauma therapy safer
(Babette Rothschild) - Treating Trauma Master Series (National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behaviour Medicine-NICAMB)
- Exploring the Intersections of Gender (Sam Hope)
- Working with Dissociative Disorder in Clinical Practice (PODS)
- Working with Relational Trauma: Dealing with Disorganised Attachment (PODS)
- Trauma and the Body: Somatisation & Dissociation (PODS) 1
- Advanced Alcohol (HIT)
- Cognitive Behavioural Approaches (HIT)
- Understanding Dual Diagnosis (Drugtrain)
Thank you for taking the time to read my profile. I hope you found what you are looking for.
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
Photos & videos
Fees
£55.00 per session
Free initial online session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Fees
Counselling and Psychotherapy Sessions are 50 minutes long and costs £55
Concessions are available for trainee counsellors at a cost of £45 for 50 minutes
Coaching
Coaching sessions can be for one or two hours at £60 per hour
Supervision for Qualified Counsellors & other professionals
£60 per hour. £85 for 1.5 hours
Supervision for Trainee Counsellors & Psychotherapist
£45 per hour. £70 per 1.5 hours. I offer group supervision for groups of 4 for two hours at £40 each
When I work
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | |||||||
| Afternoon | |||||||
| Evening | |||||||
| Night |
Daytime and early evening.
Further information
Enhanced DBS check & Memberships
I hold an enhanced Disclosure and Barring (DBS check) this is the highest level required to work, train, supervise or be in sole charge of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This check entails a search from the National Police Data base of criminal records, reprimands, warnings, cautions and convictions.
BACP Membership
I am a member of the BACP Counselling Division which means I have passed the minimum requirement which enables me to be a member. I have passed BACP accredited courses and the BACP Certificate of Proficiency. I am currently in the process of working towards by BACP accreditation which is a competency-based evaluation. I am a member of BACP Coaching and Children and Young People’s Division.
