Val Bowers
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hello and Welcome
Lots of different life experiences bring my clients to therapy, and while none of us can change our histories, we can change the way they prevent us from leading fulfilling lives. I hope that by helping you face your concerns, you will be able to find your way towards a life that works better for you. I offer a warmly honest and accepting environment in which you can be totally yourself. My clients feel valued and safe enough to take risks in their thinking and feeling, and by talking through the issues that trouble them emerge feeling more self-confident and motivated to live life in a way that feels right for them.
I work from counselling rooms in Norwich and in Holt. I am available to meet any time between 0900 and 1800. I meet clients either face to face or remotely, whichever is their choice.
Please email or telephone me for a no-obligation initial discussion to help you work out if you think we could work together to help you.
About me and how I work
I have an essentially optimistic approach to client work. I believe that given an accepting and supportive environment, we all have an innate capacity to find what's right for us, to heal and to find the solutions we seek. My work suggests that so frequently it is the lack of this nurturing environment in everyday life that teaches us the ‘survival techniques’ which inhibit us and make us unhappy. I hope that by offering you honesty and understanding, and by gently challenging you where it feels necessary, you can begin to work out a way of living that feels more positive for you.
Special interests
I am especially interested in the ways in which the long-engrained patterns of behaviour we learn at home, in our social lives and at work compel us to present ourselves as we think we should rather than how we truly are, and how the resultant stress prevents us from finding the happiness and fulfilment we crave. I have a high success rate in enabling clients to begin to accept themselves for who they are, and to move on from negative and debilitating thoughts about themselves to achieve stability, self-belief and motivation.
Please get in touch to discuss your hopes and begin to explore whether we might work together successfully. I look forward to hearing from you.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have a BSc in Psychology from University of Bristol, a Post Graduate Certificate in Counselling from University of East Anglia, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling from The Norwich Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
I have worked at Eating Matters, an eating disorders counselling service based in Norwich, and was for may years a volunteer at Sue Lambert Trust, working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
I am happy to work with those seeking counselling through Employee Assistance Programmes.
I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
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
Fees
£50.00 per session
Additional information
£50 for a 50 minute session for individuals, £60 for a 50 minute session for couples.
When I work
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0900-1800
Further information
What clients say
Here’s what some past clients have said about our work together:
“I quickly knew I had made exactly the right choice of therapist for me. You put me at ease and your perception and sensitivity were much appreciated."
“For many years people told me it wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t take what they were saying on board. After working with Val I now feel I can hear them, and I can forgive myself. I feel I can finally move on in my life.”
“I can’t thank you enough for helping me feel I am actually worth my own time, as well as other peoples’.”
“Val has been a beacon of hope for me, that I can find my way to a better future. Thank you for helping me to begin to believe in myself.”