Helen Swords
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
Supervision details
I supervise the clinical work of trainee and more experienced psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and counsellors. I am currently expanding this work, and so I hope you will feel free to contact me for an initial conversation. Practitioners of different psychological modalities are welcome too. Whilst I am an experienced psychoanalytically trained psychotherapist, I am committed to remaining thoughtful and open minded as a supervisor, in order to help nurture you, and your patients. I have been supporting adult individual clients and couples for a broad range of psychological difficulties, over a period of 20 + years. This work has been conducted from different settings: the NHS, the voluntary sector, through EAP programmes, in private practice, and within schools. I undertake clinical assessments, and these are carried out with as much subtlety as possible in early sessions in particular. As you will be aware, these are required to identify clients 'at risk' and/ or to diagnose patients presenting with chronic long-standing issues including those termed as 'personality disorders' and psychoses. Assessment enables the development of appropriate treatment for each unique client. I am passionate about finding creative ways to alleviate patients' suffering. Clinical work can be divided into two different spheres. Firstly, that which is about psychotherapy/counselling: helping to name and address patients' everyday 'here and now' surface struggles. This is enormously important to get right. Secondly, the work of analysis. I do this in my own practice by working closely with the nuances of individual patients' language; listening out for underlying, often trans-generational unconscious conflicts, that cause distress and set up patients' defences that may have out lived their use-by date. Working at this level allows patients to discover what has been causing and 'driving' their specific suffering beneath the surface of daily life, so that they can effect lasting change. Please get in touch if you wish to find out more.
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.
