Stephanie Riddle
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This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
Hi, my name is Steph, I'm a fully-qualified, experienced, Integrative Psychotherapist, offering short-term and long-term psychotherapy in Oxford City Centre and Temple Cowley.
Whatever struggles have brought you to consider psychotherapy at this time in your life, my priority will always be to create a relationship which feels therapeutic for YOU. This includes respecting your pace, your style of thinking, and your emotional needs. I believe that people are best able to heal, grow, and feel whole in conditions of psychological safety and I am very committed to professional ethics including anti-oppressive practice, good boundaries, and financial honesty.
Integrative psychotherapists hold an open-minded perspective which respects the diversity of human knowledge, culture, and systems of belief. Rather than fixing on one way of looking at things, we are open to looking at things from different points of view. Although we study a wide range of psychological theory during training, we also aim to to “leave theory at the door” in order to better connect with the person we are working with, rather than assuming we “already know”.
The human psyche truly is amazing; there is an entire universe inside every one of us. People with the same ‘issue’, ‘problem’, diagnosis, or identity are often different from each other in other, more subtle, but important ways. In order to heal and feel more whole, we need to connect with our deeper selves, to find sources of wisdom beyond the rational and beyond conscious awareness. I will support you to identify and validate your own true perceptions, feelings and intuitions, including imagination, bodily awareness, and spiritual understanding if this is relevant to you. I can also offer my own perceptions, interpretations, and theoretical knowledge, but as resources which may be useful to you in helping you make sense of things and clarify your own perspective, which you are free to take or leave, as seems right to you.
Human suffering takes many forms, including the pain of loss and grief, struggles with shame and worthlessness, fear, meaninglessness, and numbness. Often we don’t feel these things fully, but defend against them in some creative way. For example, an obsession may be a way to avoid thinking about something frightening which happened in the past; or a confident persona can be a way of hiding low self-worth. But when the things we have pushed away can be shared, in the safety of a strong psychotherapeutic relationship, then healing and greater emotional wholeness can come about. We may find we are then better equipped to live according to our own true values, connect with others in ways that feel right, and shield ourselves from harm.
Training, qualifications & experience
Training and qualifications
I am an experienced, fully qualified psychotherapist and accredited member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
I hold a postgraduate degree (MSc) in Integrative Psychotherapy, which I trained for at the Metanoia Institute in London (www.metanoia.ac.uk). This is a long-term, intensive training, accredited by the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and validated by Middlesex University. I am also trained in telephone counselling work.
Experience
I have 13 years' post-qualification experience as a psychotherapist, and another 5 years prior to that as a trainee psychotherapist, where I volunteered in various charities and was also a student counsellor at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
I am qualified to work with adults (age 18+), and have experience across the spectrum of adult life, from older teenagers right the way through to people in their 80's and 90's. I have worked with people of many different nationalities and cultural backgrounds; with diverse experiences of race and racialisation; and with different levels of financial and cultural privilege. I have also had quite a lot of experience of working with people with minoritised experiences of gender, sexuality and sexual orientation.
As my way of working is quite "in-depth", it often connects well with people who have a vivid inner life - this could be intellectual/academic in nature, spiritual/religious, artistic/creative or activist/political. I have also found that my way of working is particularly compatible with supporting adult survivors of childhood neglect and abuse, as well as people with adulthood experiences of abuse, including psychological abuse.
Telephone Counselling and Psychotherapy - Although the majority of my work is face-to-face, I do also offer a telephone service as well. I trained in telephone work before the COVID-19 pandemic and I prefer it to online working. Telephone sessions may suit you if:
- You are short of time - there is no travel time involved in attending sessions, which can make it easier to fit around your other commitments.
- You travel frequently or are planning to move home
- You are disabled, injured or unwell
- You experience emotional or psychological barriers to leaving the house or travelling
- You need to speak about issues which you find very painful, embarrassing, frightening or shameful. For some people, the 'visual privacy' of the telephone helps them to speak more freely.
For details of telephone counselling services, please see my website www.stephriddletherapy.co.uk
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Academic and Study Issues
Discrimination and Prejudice
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£60.00 - £80.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
My fees are on a sliding scale depending on your circumstances, and I ask you to let me know what you can afford within that range. I do not ask for proof or your circumstances and I do not require you to financially commit to a fixed number of sessions.
If you feel that I am the right therapist for you, but you are unable to afford a fee within the range, then there are a few options we can consider. These include a concessionary rate, part-time sessions, or a short/focused period of therapy.
When I work
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I can offer daytime sessions within regular working hours, or early morning sessions. I do not offer evening or weekend appointments.
Further information
Booking an Appointment
If you would like to book an appointment, please email me at steff_riddle@yahoo.co.uk, with a few sentences telling me about the problem or problems you would like help with. I will usually reply to you within 24 hours. If I am available to work with you, I will usually offer you an appointment within the next 10 days.
Location
Loctation 1- Peace House, 19 Paradise Street, Oxford OX1 1LD. Peace House is very near the Westgate Centre in Oxford City Centre, with many local bus routes stopping nearby and a few minutes' walk to Oxford Railway Station.
Location 2 - Oxford Therapy Centre, 1st floor, 142-144 Oxford Road, Oxford OX4 2EA. Oxford Therapy Centre is very near to several major bus routes and there is good availability of cycle and car parking. Details of the venue can be found on the Location and Parking page of the Oxford Therapy Centre website:
www.ots-oxfordtherapycentre.co.uk
