Counselling
and Psychotherapy
About Counselling
We will go at your pace, with support and gentle encouragement, to work through the issues you bring to counselling.
This can...
- Reveal how you really feel about experiences in your life
- Help you understand why they had or still have an impact
- Lead to old, harmful feelings being replaced by new, positive emotions
- Heal old wounds, repair patterns of relating and improve your current relationships.
- Integrate these experiences into your new way of being in a way that is healing and transformative
You may be wondering about the difference between words such as 'counselling' , 'psychotherapy' 'CBT' and which may be more suited to your needs. In our work together I will bring tools and techniques from different approaches so that you receive support and guidance tailored to you personally. I am trained in a therapeutic model of integration which is about drawing on a range of interventions from different therapeutic modalities. I respond to what you need in each moment in therapy. I want to meet you, rather than for you to feel that the 'tools' are in the way, but they sit in the background and inform the way we talk and work through your issues. It is very common to experience something helpful or life-changing without knowing exactly what that is or why it has helped. What I feel is most important is that we have a safe and trusting working alliance so that we can go where is needed to make the changes you want.
Counselling
This works at a more immediate level, focusing on an issue or crisis point in your life, including bereavement, grief or another kind of loss; a relationship or job change; communication difficulties; loss of life direction; a decision point, and many other issues that can benefit from trained support.
This approach focuses on how you see yourself and your world, and how these perceptions impact your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. This can help you reach your full potential by becoming more self-aware.
Counselling is held within a safe and trusting working relationship, which is open, accepting and has safe boundaries. There is no judgement, just acceptance of who you are, empathy for what you have been through, and a genuine desire to get to know you so that you can get to know yourself in a self-compassionate and loving way.
You may have heard of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). This can be integrated into counselling to identify thought patterns and beliefs that might be driving your behaviours and affecting your life negatively. The main goal of CBT is to promote self-awareness, based on the view that you might not be able to change your life’s particular circumstances, but you can switch your perception of and reaction to them.
Psychotherapy
This approach is most helpful when dealing with issues that are deep-rooted and impact on your relationship to self and others. This works to uncover unconscious thoughts that may inadvertently affect your current behaviors, emotions and perceptions. These thoughts are often linked to childhood experiences that weren’t resolved or addressed before. We focus on how your unconscious thought processes and emotions may have developed from past personal relationships and how they impact your daily life.
We address this by talking through how this has impacted your psychological and emotional development. This work is done safely and is supported by our working relationship.The relationship between us is of utmost importance here because it enables you to bring to light many of your patterns and unconscious conflicts in a safe space, free from judgement or criticism, where we can learn from them and develop new understanding which leads to greater self-awareness.
Our Counselling Alliance
It is ok to start counselling and begin to talk things through without being sure which approach is needed. I will tune into your needs and respond in the most appropriate way and you will begin to get a sense of what is working. We will often move between approaches, what is most important is that our time together is helpful, healing and effective.
Trainee Counsellors
I have extensive experience supporting students with personal therapy during their counselling training.
I provide a safe, trusting and wholly empathic space in which to explore your thoughts, feelings and experiences both past and present. Working through transferences as they arise within our therapeutic relationship will help you become more aware of the impact of past experiences and relationships in your life today. Being able to explore this openly, honestly, with curiosity and genuineness and without judgement is a fundamental relational aspect of the way I work.
As training material may arise within or alongside your own therapeutic experience, I am mindful of maintaining a safe and boundaried space. Therefore, I work with minimal numbers of counselling students from within each cohort across a range of training institutions. This helps me to support your counselling process impartially and without undue outside influence from others who you may be training alongside.
I offer a concession to trainee counsellors which is that the fee of £70 per 50-minute session is fixed for the duration of your training. This protects you from any interim fee increases (usually biennial) until you have completed your training and are qualified, which helps with planning your costs.
My location
We can meet for sessions online or by telephone, or in-person at my practice location in Godalming - a comfortable and private first-floor consultation room with bathroom facilities.
My practice is located in Godalming, which is convenient for the surrounding areas of Farncombe, Milford, Binscombe, Eashing, Hurtmore, Hascombe, Hambledon, Bramley, Shalford, Shamley Green, Wonersh, Farnham, Guildford, Cranleigh, Woking, Farnham and Dorking. A3 is 8 minutes drive. Parking and train station 1 minute walk.
Fees & availability
Fees
Counselling Session: £70 - 50 mins - Free 15 min introductory call.
Supervision Session: £90 - 60 mins , £120 - 90 mins
Trainee Counsellor Supervision: £70 - 50 mins
Insurance
I am registered with these insurance providers; AXA, Vitality, Aetna, Allianz, Aviva, Cigna, WPA. Please contact me for further details about how your counselling fees may be covered.
Emergencies
If you need to talk to someone urgently, call The Samaritans on 116 123 or https://www.samaritans.org (open 24/7).
National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK, call 0800 689 5652 or https://www.spuk.org.uk
999 in case of emergency
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