HOW I wORK

My approach to counselling is to commence our work together by providing a quiet and undisturbed space for you to bring your thoughts and feelings on why you wanted to start counselling. In this initial session as your story unfolds I will ask a number of questions that will seek further clarification from you and provide me with more background about you. We will in this first session, talk of what your goals are in coming to work together and what you are seeking from counselling. The session also provides us both with the opportunity to consider whether we can see ourselves working together over time.

There is likely to be a slight difference in our work together depending on whether it is a fixed number of sessions or more open ended. With a fixed number of sessions it is likely that we will be more consistently focussed on the goals we agreed at the start and be more aware of the limited time we have and often return to both these things. In more open ended work the sessions will largely be directed by the thoughts and feelings that come up for you in the session. Central to all our work though will be the opportunity for us to consider how the work is progressing, what is working and what isn’t and why.

Overall the counselling I offer is based in the relationship that forms in our sessions. I believe that as we work together, bringing ourselves, our histories and our own stories, we will both be changed as a result of our meeting. Whilst I find myself particularly influenced by attachment and relational theorists, I believe that any theory or practice I bring is secondary to your experience and how we might interpret and re-interpret its meaning for you. Theory only shines a light on experience and its possible meanings. I hope that you will experience the space in which we meet as confidential, non-judgemental and safe in order that your suffering can be understood, and you can become free from it.

I also strive to ensure our work will help you to understand and be able to manage the feelings and thoughts that are causing you to suffer.  Through this process you will be able to make some of the changes you wanted to achieve or have begun to realise through our work you want to make.

WALKING COUNSELLING

I also offer ‘walking and talking’ counselling and during the pandemic this has been useful for some clients who have wanted to commence sessions but have wanted to do so in a socially distanced way. You may wonder how this works? Simply, we walk and talk without the constraints of being inside. Some clients are more comfortable walking and talking and find it easier to start discussing their problems when strolling along a country path. Others find being surrounded by nature very reassuring and for some it is a good alternative to being in my counselling room, as they have a sense of freedom and feel more able to unburden themselves. If this way of working appeals to you I am happy to talk with you in more detail about how we negotiate between us location, pace and dealing with certain eventualities such as bumping into other people.