About Me
First of all, thank you for your time reading some more about me and my work. I hope you find this further information helpful too.
I am an accredited and registered counsellor and psychotherapist, a member of the BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists, www.bacp.co.uk) and you will see me registered on their web site. I have worked for 7 years in the NHS and in counselling/ training altogether for 13 years. I am also ICO registered. Amongst other experience, I have also previously worked in a hospice (9 years, two as a counsellor) and a cancer charity (5 years as a volunteer counsellor). Prior to this I worked in business for many years as a Business Analyst before life changed for me and took me in this new and enriching direction as a counsellor.
I offer short term counselling, open ended counselling and longer term counselling. When we meet, we would work out together which would suit you most based on your needs. This is simply a practical timescale based on your aims and is about pacing, focus, needs and complexity as well as time and cost of course.
For example, a specific and focused piece of therapy may only need 10 sessions, perhaps less. A more sensitive, long term or complex life situation may need 20, 30 or more sessions.
I am a Humanistic Integrative Counsellor – in plain English, Humanistic means human to human. No therapy will ever work without such human connection, the ability to truly prize and accept another individual. It is a philosophy that emphasises human goodness, potential and wholeness. It sees even ‘unhelpful’ life responses as behaviours and does not define the person in this way – rather, it seeks to understand them. It is about human ‘abundance’ not deficiency.
“Integrative” (above) means we can work with the narrative (spoken story) or visually (imagery and imagination). Always this would be your choice and tends to naturally evolve through our work. Integrative also refers to the training I have had which brings models of working into a collaborative harmony to offer you a range of approaches as to how we may work.
The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
CARL ROGERS
