Suzi Mackenzie

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BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

location_on Brighton BN1 & Burgess Hill RH15
Available for new clients
Available for new clients

This professional is available for new clients.

About me

I’m an experienced Person Centred Counsellor, Supervisor and Focusing Teacher based in Burgess Hill and Brighton. I have experience working with anxiety, depression, sexual abuse, relationship issues, work related stress, ill health, bereavement, family issues and many other life and mental health issues. I offer online and in person sessions. ​

I have been counselling for over fifteen years. I am a kind, warm and open minded person and I love supporting others to be more accepting of themselves and to become more fully connected with themselves and their potential. 

My approach is Person Centred, so we will look at whatever is important to you. I work with clients with warmth, patience and compassion: I believe that we’re all unique and complex beings with innate potential for growth. Coming to counselling can feel a bit scary and I will work to help you feel safe and to be someone you can trust. Therapy can inevitably bring up difficult feelings and I will try to help you feel emotionally safe to explore this at your own pace.

Life might feel hard. You might be overwhelmed by strong feelings and feel alone. Having someone to share your feelings with can make them more manageable. When we’re able to feel as bad as we feel, without having to pretend we’re ok, and when we feel accepted just as we are, we often move through these feelings into feeling clearer and lighter: We’re more able to know and do what we need to do to feel better or make life changes. 

If you want to be more happy and fulfilled in life, counselling can be a chance to collaborate with another human to unpick your life situation and your potential to help you to make the most of it. I won’t know the answers for you, but I have faith in the potential of exploring what is meaningful to us in the company of another person who is prepared to hear you deeply and be with you in confusion as much as certainty, pain as much as joy. 

When we are able to more fully accept our feelings and ourselves we are more able to move forwards, but often we need the company of another to support this process. Being accepted and respected by another human helps us develop this inner relationship with ourselves.  

If you feel marginalised in the world I want to welcome you. Society values some people and groups more than others, and it is not always easy to talk about the experience of this. I want to hear your experience around this so it can be explored and validated. 

I have a longstanding interest in mental health and wellbeing. I was a counsellor at Mind for a number of years, including working as a crisis counsellor and co-facilitating an OCD support group. I have worked with clients experiencing anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, hearing voices, borderline personality disorder, psychosis and trauma. I’m interested in social and political issues including links between mental health and inequality in society. 

The Person Centred Approach is one that trusts that all humans are unique and hence there will not be one answer that works for everyone. Exploring the complexity of your own unique struggles can feel a challenge at times but within the context of a supportive therapeutic relationship this can be empowering. Unpicking how you feel and what you need with the support of another can help you be more self-reliant as you will find this a lifelong tool. Counselling can also help you experience the potential of human relationships. When you experience what it is to be accepted and understood just as you are, you may begin to be more authentic in relationships and feel both more free and more connected in the world.   

Sometimes we don’t know what we need and we want guidance. My work is also influenced by a natural process called Focusing, which involves listening to our embodied, or holistic experience. If we pause and listen inside we may notice there is something, some feeling or sensation, however vague, which lets us know a little about what is wrong or what is needed. From a knowing of what is wrong comes a starting point, a gradual awareness of what would feel more right. Our body can often tell us more about this if we can listen to it. For instance, we may get a sense of tension or constriction when we think about an issue in our life, and maybe there is something else we notice which brings a sense of lightness or expansion. These sometimes subtle cues can help us find our way and I can help you get used to listening for them. 

I am responsible and professional, I work with integrity and I abide by the BACP Ethical Framework. I am BACP Senior Accredited and Registered. I welcome your feedback about how you find working with me and I am open to being challenged. I understand that clients trust me with issues very personal to them and what you tell me is confidential.

Training, qualifications & experience

I have been counselling since 2007. I have a Higher Professional Diploma in Counselling and am a Senior Accredited member of the BACP. I am also a Focusing Practitioner and Teacher as well as a clinical Supervisor. I have a degree in Philosophy and Psychology.

I have worked as a counsellor in a Performing Arts School, at a Community Counselling Service, with an organisation supporting parents of abused children, with Further Education students and in a local mental health counselling service. I have worked with a wide variety of issues and clients from different ages groups, genders, ethnic backgrounds, sexualities etc.

I work to continually develop myself as a person and as counsellor and to fulfil my ethical obligation to work responsibly with my clients. I have undergone training in areas such as sexual abuse, domestic violence, relationships, attachment issues, various mental health training.

In addition to counselling I have worked in the public sector for a number of years and have volunteered for homelessness and AIDS/HIV organisations, I was also a Samaritan volunteer for ten years.

Member organisations

school Registered / Accredited

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.

BACP
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP)

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

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
Accredited Register Scheme

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.

British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

Areas of counselling I deal with

Other areas of counselling I deal with

The above list is not exhaustive, we may be able to work with many issues together. Please contact me to discuss this.

Photos & videos

Fees

£65.00 per session

Concessions offered for

  • check_circle Low income
  • check_circle Keyworkers
  • check_circle OAPs
  • check_circle Students
  • check_circle Trainee counsellors
  • check_circle Unemployed
  • check_circle Refugees

Health Insurance/EAP

  • check_circle BUPA
  • check_circle WPA

Additional information

£65 (£30 for initial session)

Reduced rates may be available for those on a low income or students, please ask me about this.

When I work

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Night

I may be able to see you at other times than those specified above, so please do enquire

Crescent Practice, 19 Montpelier Crescent, Brighton, BN1 3JF

Sussex Osteopathy, 7a Mill Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 8DN

Type of session

In person
Online
Phone

Types of client

Young adults (18-24)
Adults (25-64)
Older Adults (65+)
Employee Assistance Programme

Key details

DBS check info

In England and Wales, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS, formerly known as CRB) carry out criminal records checks for individuals working with vulnerable groups, such as children. To find out more, visit gov.uk , or contact this professional directly

Wheelchair user access info
Wheelchair user access

Wheelchair-accessible premises should have step-free access for wheelchair users and individuals who are unable to climb stairs. If a Counsellor's premises aren't step-free, they may offer alternative services such as telephone/web-based appointments, home visits, or meeting clients in different location, so you can choose the option that suits you best.

You can contact the Counsellor to discuss the options available.

Under the Equality Act 2010 service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that individuals with disabilities can access their service. You can read more about reasonable adjustments to help you to access services on the CAB website.

In Burgess Hill I have a wheelchair accessible office

Online platforms

Zoom

Supervision

In person
Online

I am an experienced, BACP Senior Accredited, Person Centred Counsellor and qualified Supervisor.

View supervision profile

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