Depression, anxiety, illness, illness recovery, low self-esteem, relationship issues / patterns, parental issues, addictions, bereavement, questions of meaning & purpose.
I work in Bath and Bristol and have returned to face to face working; but also work online when that is more feasible.
Areas include depression, anxiety, illness, illness recovery, low self-esteem, relationship patterns, parental issues, addictions, bereavement and questions of meaning & purpose.
Therapeutic Counselling
Sometimes we need help in our journeys to find out who we really are; we need a different perspective from friends and family, someone who is impartial, someone who can let us breath, who won’t react to what we say, won’t talk over us, and offer what ‘they think’ responses. Someone who can offer us a ‘confidential space’ that we can use with confidence; in busy daily lives this often feels lacking.
Counselling and therapy can offer this space to re-evaluate what is happening, what one wants, who one is and is a chance to talk about things that perhaps no else has properly listened to. Talking to someone in this way can make a real difference when we may have become stuck, directionless, depressed or caught in negative relationships or situations that seem beyond our control. It can help us understand where we are and what we really feel, but more importantly can help us work out where we need to go. Someone impartial can offer this exploration, change and permission.
My Approach
I offer humanistic, psychodynamic based therapy informed by Gestalt practice and the relational approach, and embracing aspects of cognitive therapy. What does this mean practically?
Principally it means creating a safe setting where someone can begin to explore their own experiences and begin to work out what they feel and what they trust. Daily life is often a compromise that doesn’t give the space to explore our deepest feelings and therefore change for the better is always on hold.
I can work both in the short term, identifying specific problems to be addressed or the longer term, which offers the chance, with support to make real changes.
| Individual: | £55 |
I have completed the final stages of my training at the Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling, a course accredited by both BACP & UKCP and have qualified in humanistic and integrative counselling (DipHIC, distinction, BCPC). This follows a life-long interest in people, their motivations and their relationships. I have a first class degree in psychology (Bath 2001), an MLiTT in creative writing (Glasgow, 2011) and two decades of experience in mental health, both the charity sector e.g. Mind, & Changes, Bristol but also in the NHS, working on acute mental health wards, and for the last four years counselling in addictions in Bristol. On top of counselling I facilitate groups, and also run creative writing workshops.