Dr Susan Stevens
Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
Counselling and psychological therapy
I offer counselling, and psychological therapy (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, EMDR) for individuals (adults).
All sessions are via video only (eg Zoom).
I can offer a listening ear, free of any judgement or assumptions, to help you recognise and make some sense of any distressing thoughts and feelings.
If preferred, and/or in addition, I can also offer a more structured psychological assessment and plan of treatment for specific psychological issues, including anxiety, panic, low mood, trauma (including dissociation), intense emotions, and chronic pain management. Therapy for these kinds of issues is likely to involve significant practice between sessions, at home, to make the most of the treatment.
Clinical Supervision
I have been offering supervision since 2010, to
- Groups and individuals
- Trainees (Counselling Psychologists, Clinical Psychologists, CBT therapists working towards BABCP accreditation)
- Qualified practitioners (newly qualified, or highly experienced)
Training
by arrangement
Previous training workshops include:
- introductory training for counselling
- bereavement
- traumatic bereavement
- working across a language gap
- Introduction to CBT
- working with trauma
- emotional regulation skills
- understanding risk and safeguarding as a counsellor
Training, qualifications & experience
My experience includes over 20 years counselling as a volunteer in several different organisations supporting people who have experience loss and/or trauma, over 7 years experience in primary care in the NHS offering CBT for depression, anxiety disorders and trauma, and recently, six years in secondary care offering CBT or EMDR for people with severe and complex psychological difficulties.
My formal training and qualifications are:
- BSc in Psychology (Open University) 2000
- MSc in Counselling Psychology (City University London) 2006
- Post MSc Diploma in Counselling Psychology (City University London) 2007
- DPsych, Counselling Psychology (City University London) 2011
- Post Graduate Diploma in Psychological Therapies - CBT (University of Surrey) 2012
I engage in regular training/continuing professional development; my CPD in 2020 was inevitably focused on developing competence in delivering counselling, CBT and EMDR online. Since then I have continued to develop skills in EMDR, CBT, and also Narrative Exposure Therapy.
Member organisations
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.
British Psychological Society
The BABCP is the lead organisation for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the UK. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the practice, theory or development of CBT. BABCP also provides accreditation for CBT therapists. BABCP accredited members adhere to the Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics in the Practice of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, and are willing to be scrutinised in this adherence as required.
The HCPC are an independent, UK-wide health regulator. They set standards of professional training, performance and conduct for 16 professions.
They keep a register of health professionals who meet their standards, and they take action if registered health professionals fall below those standards. They were created by a piece of legislation called the Health Professions Order 2001.
Registration means that a health professional meets national standards for their professional training, performance and conduct.
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
Other areas of counselling I deal with
- Sleep issues
- Chronic pain
- Identity
- Emetophobia
- Abuse: from harassment/hate crimes
Therapies offered
Fees
£90.00 per session
Additional information
I find it helpful to have a longer first session, possibly up to 90 minutes, to give us both a bit more time to get to know each other, and ask all the questions we need to (and fill out some basic paperwork). The fee for this initial session remains at the hourly rate.
Please contact me about fees for supervision, as these will vary according to circumstances.
I am happy to speak on the phone first, for up to 15 minutes, for an informal chat (this is free of charge), to answer any initial questions you may have.
When I work
I do not currently have any availability (autumn/winter 2023-24) and I do not keep a waiting list.
Further information
A health warning:
There can be potential negative side-effects of therapy.
I offer therapy - this is supposed to be therapeutic and help with distress. Sometimes, however, for various reasons, distress can increase during or after sessions.
This can sometimes happen during treatment for trauma, for example. It is therefore really important to feel able to discuss this in advance, and make sensible plans to manage any increase in distressing memories, dreams or emotions between sessions.
If you have any questions at all, please do contact me and I’ll be very happy to discuss things further.
