Counselling

Cost Of Sessions

Initial session £25

Ongoing sessions of 50 minutes each week £50

Initial Session

In the initial session we will talk about what has brought you to counselling and what you would like to work on.

Together, we can decide whether we can work together and agree a way forward.

If I do not believe that I have the training and experience you need then I will do my best to signpost other professionals.

Working Together

If we decide to proceed, we will meet weekly on the same day and at the same time for 50 minutes each week.

We can agree to meet for a set number of sessions or leave it open ended.

Working Ethically

I adhere to the BACP's Ethical Framework. The contents of sessions are confidential although I share anonymised details with my Counselling Supervisor with whom I meet regularly. The purpose of attending supervision is to help ensure that I am working safely, ethically and effectively and meeting your needs.

I may need to break confidentiality if I believe that you or a third party is at risk of harm although I will aim to discuss this with you beforehand.

There are many different counselling approaches and it is important that you have some idea of what to expect from me if I become your counsellor. Below I have decribed how I help my clients. Some of the items describe counselling in general, some are derived from my training, reading and research, and some are personal to me and derived from my experience.

My Approach

Counselling will offer you the time and space to share your story and how you are feeling with an independent person. In 'normal life' it is often hard to find someone who does not: interrupt, try to tell you what to do, change the subject, directs the conversation towards their own agenda. I will listen to you and seek to understand.

As I listen to you I will always aim to avoid judgement and to see you as a human being worthy of care and love and understanding. Unless I believe that you or anyone you tell me about is at risk of harm, I will keep what you tell me confidential.

I will draw on my training, my experience and my knowledge of counselling theory to help you make sense of your experience.

I will not tell you what to do but I will work with you to enable you to find your own solutions and a way forward from your current difficulties. I do not believe I am an expert in your life - only you can be that.

Psychodynamic counselling recognises how influential our past can be on our current lives. Sometimes we find ourselves in difficulty as a result of repeating old and unhealthy or unhelpful patterns. It will be important for us to talk about your life, perhaps going back as far as your childhood, so we can see if your past still has a hold on your present and your future.

Psychodynamic counselling also stresses how important it is to become more aware of ourselves. Neuroscience has proven that much of our behaviour is driven by unconscious processes - that sometimes it seems that, although we are in the driving seat of our lives, someone else is controlling the steering and the direction in which we travel. By becoming more aware of ourselves we learn to take more control.