Sonya Suter

Qualification and Training

In my 20’s I had some time away from therapy to get on with my life and put all that I had learned into practice. As I evolved and learned more about myself, I decided to change career and embarked on an Advanced Diploma in Person-Centred Counselling. I have continued to further my education, personal development and skills to enhance my work and practice by completing the following….

2020-Level 7-Certificate in Supervision. CTSD London (Current studies)

2019-Level 7-Msc Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy.  University of Derby        2016-Level 5-Certificate in Coaching & Mentoring. XUE                                              2016- Level 4-Diploma in Counselling Children & Adolescents.  Lindum College        2008-Level 3-Certificate in Substance Misuse.  North Notts College

2003-Level 3-Advanced Diploma in Person- Centred Counselling.  Loughborough College

Continued Personal Development                                                                      

As a member of the BACP I am required to participate in 30 hours of Continued Further Development a year. Here is some of the CPD I have completed….

·     Dream Groups-Robin Sohet & June Wilmot

·     Trauma Training

·     Somatic Psychology Integrated into Evidence-Ariella Schwarz

·     Working with Shame-PODS (Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors

·     Relational Depth-Mick Cooper

·     The Psychophysiology of PTSD and Trauma-Babette Rothschild

·     Treating Trauma Master Series-NICAM (National Institute for the Clinical                  Application Behavioural Medicine

·     Routine Enquiry to Adverse Childhood Experiences-Warren Larkin & Associates

·     Child Sexual Abuse-Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse

·     Safeguarding Adults and Children-every 3 years

·     Prevent Training

·     Exploring the Intersections of Gender and Sexuality-Sam Hope

·     Working with Dissociative Disorders in Clinical Practice-PODS

·     Compassion Focused Therapy

·     Working with Relational Trauma: Dealing with Disorganised Attachment-PODS

·     Trauma and the Body: Somatisation & Dissociation-PODS

·     Advanced Alcohol Training-HIT

·     Understanding Dual Diagnosis-Drugtrain

·     Various other illicit substance training

Experience

What sort of people do I usually see?

I work anyone that is at the right place for therapy. We all have our own unique way of thinking, feeling, behaving and seeing the world. My role is to help you navigate you own way forward. A therapist does not give advice, they will listen and attempt to understand you and your world and what you want from therapy. I will support you in trusting and believing in yourself so you can find the right pathway for you. Carrying out an assessment on the first session is a standard procedure in counselling/psychotherapy. It is an opportunity for you to meet your therapist and together see if you can worker together. If for any reason I did not feel I had the skill set to help you with what you need in therapy I would be honest with you so you can find a specialist in the field you are looking for.

What area do you work?

I began my career in substance misuse, working with individuals who had a drug or alcohol dependency. Drugs and alcohol can be a coping strategy that can numb underlying pain and difficulties short-term; all for it to come flooding back once the substances has worn off. We all have our own way of dealing with emotional pain, some people avoid their discomfort by participating in excessive amounts of sport, spending more hours at work than needed, comfort eating, gambling, shopping and many other behaviours. I support people understand the underlying emotional discomfort beneath the behaviour alongside raising awareness of their default coping strategies. We may explore alternative strategies that may be more suitable for you in your life now, if that is what you are looking for.

I have worked with people who have experienced loss either through bereavement, loss of a job, identity, relationship, financial status, health and loss of self. I support people with relationship difficulties whether this be a family member, friend, partner, child, professional or the relationship we have with ourselves. I work with people who are experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety and other limiting thinking and behaviours which may be causing restrictions in your life. I work with people with specific learning and behavioural needs, such as dyslexia, autism, OCD, asperges etc.

Do I have a specialist interest?

My work has taken me in the direction of trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences, specifically survivors of sexual violence.  I have extensive experience in addiction and substance misuse and the childhood adversity that lies beneath it.

I carry out contract work for a charity who specifically take referrals for children and adults who have been subject to sexual violence either historically or in the present. I am employed in a Substance Misuse setting delivering an Identity Group which I created and also deliver privately. I am the Child Sexual Abuse Lead and the Routine Enquiry to Adverse Childhood Experience Lead in Nottinghamshire.

What are Adverse Childhood Experiences?

25 years ago, research was carried out that recognised that childhood adversity shapes the development of the brain, leaving some areas of the brain under-developed and other parts over-developed. As the child adapts to its environment so does the feelings, thinking and behaviours of the child. In adult life these can present as unhelpful and maladaptive (dysfunctional) defaulting thinking and behaviour patterns, in some cases they can be detrimental to oneself and those around us. Without the necessary support and nurturing as a child our emotions, voice and thinking can become suppressed and lead to passive, aggressive or passive/aggressive behaviour as adults. Escapism from such intense feelings and emotions can lead us to using unhelpful coping strategies, replicate family patterns and a feeling of living an existence rather than a fulfilling life. Such patterns are known as Schemas (Lifetraps)

Adverse Childhood Experiences can consist of the following…

·     Domestic Violence

·     Parental abandonment through separation or divorce

·     A parent with mental illness condition

·     Being subject to physical, sexual and emotional abuse

·     Being subject to physical or emotional neglect

·     A member of the household being in prison

·     Growing up in a house where adults are misusing drugs or alcohol

What are Lifetraps?

I have worked with lifetraps for the past 5 years; they link early life relationships and childhood adaptations (mentioned above) with how they may be playing out in the present. I work with you by exploring the past and identifying the link with the her and now. Together we explore where your body is holding on to adversity and begin to work through it, finding new ways to manage and live life in a more fulfilling manner. By doing so helps to form new pathways in the brain by disempowering old thinking and behaviour patterns and empowering new ones.

Tell me about the Identity Group

It is a combination of interventions, discussions and practical exercises that help raise awareness around identity. It explores our true self and self-concept (the person we have become as a result of external factors). We look at strategies to challenge our thinking and behaviour and tools to experiment with which will help develop alternative thinking and behaviour patterns. We explore feelings and learn to be more compassionate and take better care of them.

The aim is to develop tools that help you become more true to yourself.  We will take a look at our own childhood adversity briefly and see where it might be affecting the present and which lifetraps could be playing themselves out in our sub-conscious and getting in the way of decision making and choices.

What’s your consultation room like?

My room is off the A60 in Mansfield. There is plenty of parking. From the bus or train station it is a 10-minute walk through town. My room is in a building with other small businesses. It is in a quiet location of the building. My room as 3 seats and is currently operating with the 2 metre social distancing guidelines. Furniture is sprayed after each client and only I touch the door handles to help limit any risk of contracting COVID-19. The building as a whole is also adhering to government guidelines around COVID-19. Depending on the guidance at the time will depend on whether I am seeing clients face to face or remotely via online or over the phone.

What would you like people to know about therapy

Therapy requires commitment for it to work, a commitment to yourself and the process. Sometimes you may feel like you are getting worse but that can be because everything you have held in is beginning to now filter out. Your body is an amazing tool and it will do what it needs to do to heal. If you fight it and be impatient with yourself or have unrealistic expectations it will cause internal conflict. If you can give your mind and body the time and patience it deserves whilst in therapy you will begin to notice changes. I believe our mind and body knows what it needs but so many of us have spent so much time not listening to it and trying to control it. When we begin to trust our mind and body, control from within can take place and an inner peace be found.

What do you learn about yourself?

I never stop learning about myself, others and my surroundings. I enjoy looking at life through other perspectives and learning about how our mental health impacts our physical health, particularly our immune system and genetics.

Can you tell us about the type of therapy you practice?

Each counsellor or psychotherapist works differently. I initially qualified as a Person-Centred counsellor. This means that there is a focus on forming a healthy therapeutic relationship with client’s, so they feel safe, not judged and able to explore aspects of themselves safely with positive regard from the therapist. I believe this is very important. There is a focus on what is happening in the present moment of a counselling session which gives the client and counsellor access to some vital information.

As I evolved as a therapist I realised some clients need more. I furthered my studies and embarked on a Coaching qualification as not every client needs to explore the past or present, some clients want to achieve goals and move forward. In 2016 I completed a Diploma in Counselling Children and Adolescents. Helping people at a young age can limit the onset of unhelpful thinking and behaviour patterns in adult life.   This course helped me to understand the inner child that sits inside everyone of us, this was a perfect way to understand our adult self on a deeper level.

As I have continued to work as a therapist, I wanted to gain more depth in my understanding of human thinking and behaviour which would enable me to offer more depth in my work to clients. To do this I completed an MSc in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy. This combines a Person-Centred Approach as mentioned above, attachment which explores our childhood attachment to others. It also integrates Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which looks at strategies to help us think and behave differently in relationships and in situations. Integrating all 3 models has given me flexibility in my work and an ability to work with all our other parts, i.e., our adult self, our own inner child and our critical parent.

I find human thinking, behaviour and feelings fascinating, all to be respected and handled with the care they deserve. I have a keen interested in how past trauma can shape our path and how the brain and body adapts, remembers and responds. To help complement by work and the modalities I have trained in I have attended many developmental courses around trauma, compassion focused therapy, somatic (body) psychology and mindfulness which all help with raising awareness to our mind and body and encourage healing and recovery.

What is Life Coaching?

Some client have specific goals and aspirations in life and may struggle to implement them and stay focused.  I will help you explore this and work with specific goals to help you achieve them.  We can explore the obstacles and I will help you re-focus.

Supervision
I have a Supervisor who I see once a month for 1.5 hours which is a requirement of the BACP (British Association for Counsellor and Psychotherapists). In order for me to help others and help you find your way in life I have a personal responsibility to make sure I am functioning to my best ability in all aspects of my life too.

£50.00 per session

Daytime and early evening.