Face-to-Face Counselling
Within face to face counselling, I will explore with you whatever distress, difficulty or dissatisfaction you might be experiencing. My aim will be to understand things from your point of view, from your perspective and then help you to gain more clarity, make changes, exercise your choices, reduce confusion or perhaps accept a situation or a consequence. I won’t give you advice but I will help you feel clearer and less stuck. Everybody is welcome equally, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, class or culture.
Bottled up anger, anxiety, embarrassment or grief can feel quite overwhelming and the opportunity to express these feelings without being rushed, judge or denied, can be effective and healing. We may be able to look at things which you have not previously faced or accepted.
There are many different ‘models’ or ‘theories’ of counselling & psychotherapy, each with its own way of working and its own merits but all with a goal of assisting you to evaluate, accept or change aspects of yourself or your life. Cognitive behaviour Therapy encourages you to evaluate your thought and behaviour patterns with a view to making specific changes, Psychodynamic therapy will consider the influences of your childhood upon your present and Humanistic therapies will focus on the here and now and how you are feeling. My training integrated all these therapies (and a few more) however, within a caring and respectful relationship, I will help you to feel better – which after all is why you are considering coming for counselling.
Group & Family Counselling
Group therapy brings different advantages to 1-1 counselling. It enables people to realise they are not alone with a problem and that others are experiencing similar feelings. It can provide an opportunity for a wide variety of responses and feedback and reduce feelings of isolation. It can provide a forum for listening, being listened to and for trying out new attitudes and approaches.
One’s habitual ways of relating are often reproduced in the group setting. This gives the group the opportunity to examine and understand the difficulties that arise, and this in turn allows new more productive patterns of relating to emerge and be established.
Groups are facilitated by myself or another qualified therapist and involve an element of psycho-education. They usually run on a Saturday or one night a week (for a six week period and are ‘closed’ to new members – new people are placed on a waiting list). Most popular are addiction groups, couples groups and abuse-survivor groups. Various different groups are running at any one time so please contact me to discuss your needs.
Telephone Counselling
Telephone counselling is also available if you are unable or prefer not to travel. It is confidential, convenient and as equally effective as face to face therapy. Clients have used telephone counselling in order to cope with phobias, bereavement, abuse, anxiety, depression, anger, stress, health related and many other issues.
Online Counselling
Confidentiality is vital for all forms of counselling – even more so for online. Please contact me directly if you wish to discuss online therapy.
Mediation
This service is for couples who’s relationships are reaching the point where legal separation or divorce are being considered. It does not aim for any specific outcome however both reconciliation and separation are equally likely eventualities.
Sometimes Family counselling is also effective at this stage of a relationship breakdown. The process enables Couples and Families to be heard respectfully regarding their needs and feelings, at a time when emotions can be quite over-powering.
Supervision & Coaching
My preferred approach is Person-Centred and my degree training was Integrated (e.g. CBT, Gestalt, TA), thus I am able to bring a variety of theoretical orientations to both counselling and supervision, dictated by the needs of the client and the supervisee. I approach all supervisees with compassion.
I view the supervisory relationship as a common understanding of goals and tasks, within a strong bond of mutual trust and respect. I encourage a facilitative, interactive, supportive and safe environment for professional and personal disclosures. Supervisees worth, values and strengths are acknowledged. Feedback is given, boundaries are adhered to and space is offered in order to think and feel.
I aim to assist supervisees to: conceptualise clinical material and apply appropriate interventions, identify and manage transference, develop analytical, creative and self-awareness skills, plus clarify roles, responsibilities and ethical issues.
I encourage supervisees to : know and subscribe to appropriate codes of ethics, not over-work and to look after themselves, feel free to bring ‘bad’ work to supervision, reflect critically on their interventions with clients and be aware of how they may harm clients.
Workshops
Abuse disclosure is on the increase. Counsellors aren’t crime prevention officers but we want to help people feel better without them harming others. New legislation now making Coercive behaviour illegal, has implications for Counsellors and Psychotherapists working with individuals and couples. It sits within Safeguarding regulations and is reflected within the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy’s new Ethical Framework. Better understanding of behaviour profiles increases a Counsellor’s confidence in recognising pre or post offending patterns and this is particularly significant with Sex Offending and the risk assessment of emotionally abusive and coercive behaviour.
Speaking with those who are either suspects, perpetrators, witnesses or survivors of abusive behaviour is a specific skill and the legal (e.g. Serious Crime Act 2015 – Coercive control, Duty of Confidence and MAPPA, multi agency public protection arrangements), forensic (mindsets, offender ‘types’) and behavioural aspects (e.g. enhanced cognitive interviewing) used by Police are examined in this workshop, with Counsellors and Psychotherapists specifically in mind.
The workshop uses taped live offender interviews (and has some strong content) and is co-facilitated by a serving Detective who specialises in the field and a Psycho-sexual therapist who is also an ex-police officer.
CPD certificates will be provided.
Amanda (Dip Counselling) is a serving Officer experienced in (hostile) negotiation, mediation, assessment, Major Disaster Management, Specialist Interviewing, Mental Health, Vulnerable Adults, current/historic Child Abuse, Sexual Offenders and Domestic Abusers. Val (BA Counselling – ex police) is a Psychotherapist who has worked with prisoners.
A one day workshop for psychotherapists and counsellors wishing to explore couples work. It covers topics such as couples counselling models, attachment, relationship stages, violence and abuse, sexuality, practical skills and what to avoid.
This one day workshop explores emotions and feelings. It looks at anger and the different ways we express and hide it. We’ll explore ways of putting feelings into words and offer various insights into the complexities of why we feel the way we do and why we behave the way we do within relationships But it also invites participants to risk self-disclosing and discussion with other group members, which in turn can bring improved self-confidence and understanding. Facilitated by Val or one of the other qualified and experienced therapists in her team.
Psychologists are often involved with non-relational aspects of clients e.g. risk assessment and psychological testing, planning, psycho-education, report writing, audit and evaluation, service management, research, training and formulation i.e. the psychological explanation of the genesis and maintenance of psychological problems. Within the context of these activities, this one day workshop covers the more therapeutic aspects of client relating and alliance and covers specific counselling skills.
The work of Ogden and Siegal involves the identification of optimum arousal states in which emotions can be experienced as tolerable. Whilst this theory has most significance in the avoidance of re-traumatisation when working with previously traumatised clients, it has a value when working with all clients.
Sometimes clients are ready to face difficult emotional content however it is the counsellors discomfort with their own emotions which prevents them from working at the client’s optimum level. This workshop encourages exploration of self within the therapy relationship plus evaluates the skills and attitudes required for using emotions optimally and assertively with clients.
Marketing your counselling practiceBeing an excellent counsellor may not be sufficient to attract more clients. As Counselling and Psychotherapy becomes increasingly popular, so are the number of counsellors. This workshop shows you how to set yourself aside from the competition. It approaches the commercial aspects of marketing your counselling business and covers topics such as research, setting strategies, marketing planning, the marketing ‘mix’ and marketing tools. As an ex-faculty Course Director at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, I have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with you.
Contact Me
Tel: 01252 336114