being as I am
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The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
Carl Rogers
What is it like working with me?
​My work as a psychotherapeutic counsellor involves building a therapeutic relationship within a relational integrative approach. I carefully attune to client's needs through creating a safe and compassionate space to explore issues that arise for clients at their pace and to meet their own goals in therapy.
I see our work together very much as a collaboration, in which kindness and compassion plays a key part. I attune to your needs and explore your experience with you, so that you may feel truly met and able to relax into a sense of wholeness and safety.
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I work in a gentle and compassionate way in order for you to feel safe. The way I work is to include all aspects of your life, your emotional, cognitive, spiritual and bodily sensations in present moment awareness as well as looking into past patterns that have affected you negatively.
Through therapy we uncover the underlying issues that are core to your pain and suffering, by addressing these together you can become aware of them, understand and accept them, enabling you to find true healing.
We will be working with your whole being, all aspects of you and your life and the ways you are caught in negative patterns. What also is important to your growth is what brings you happiness and wholeness, looking at the fractured parts of yourself together with your joys, gives rise to a feeling of wholeness or groundedness, this peace is your natural true nature. All therapy does is uncover this, that which was there all along.
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Traumas held within our bodies and minds are pockets or ‘holds in time’, of unmet, unsupported, undigested life. My aim is to provide a space for these ‘short circuits’ to be re-connected, metabolised and integrated into the whole. Through gentle exploring and sensitive questioning, through guiding you into a deeper experiencing of your body’s ‘felt sense’ and through a sharing of insights arising between us, I aim to facilitate a deepening awareness of your own life experience.
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I create a safe space for you to feel into your feelings, and as you meet them, you may discover a new sense of aliveness within you and your life. Feelings, once acknowledged, are self-liberating, and fuel us into greater wholeness. It is only when they are unrecognised, unmet and unloved that they trap us.
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We will explore patterns of thought and belief and discover through inquiry and reflection how certain thinking processes and imprints, (conditioning), may be keeping you hostage. Old patterns can be cast aside as you become conscious of them, so that you may live from a freer, more natural state.
At times we may use meditative practices, mindfulness, explore dreams and visualisations or sandtray therapy. You may in our sessions also discover a stillness out of which all these experiences arise, and realise that it is not separate from you.
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My non-dual perspective is one in which I recognise a ground of being which is unchanging and ever present. It is infinitely kind, and the source from which our potential and subtle sense of existence, ‘I am’, arises. It is a deep well of silence and peace that fills our hearts, enabling us to interact with ourselves and our environment in an enlightened – unburdened way. It is the stillness at the heart of existence. And its doorway is present moment awareness.
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When you get in touch with me you can ask me any question you'd like answered and I also will ask you a little about yourself - why you are considering support and when would be a good time for you to meet for regular sessions in the week . Looking at when we are both potentially free is a good way to start. This would be for an introductory session.
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​In this session it is a good chance for you to decide whether I could be the right therapist for you. The introductory session lasts one hour and gives us enough time to discuss the opportunity to work together in more detail.
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Counselling offers a special relationship that is private and professional. How long you wish to have counselling for is flexible and something I can help you to decide.
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How can I begin counselling?
Delighted to announce that I can now offer Walk & Talk Therapy.
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What is Walk & Talk Therapy?
It is a form of counselling & psychotherapy where confidential sessions take place outside with counsellor and client walking side by side. It is also referred to as Ecotherapy, Walking Therapy or Outdoor Therapy. The pace is always set by the client with the counsellor matching their pace. If the client wishes to pause or sit they are free to do so.
The primary objective of Walk and Talk is to have a therapy session. However walking in the fresh air in a natural environment provides an additional therapeutic context. I adhere to the NCS Ethical Framework and observe confidentiality as traditional face to face counselling settings.
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I also offer Nature Therapy which is creatively using objects encountered on the walk along with natural materials that can be used symbolically and metaphorically as part of the therapy.
How long will I need?
After we have met for a first “getting-to-know-each-other” Introductory session, I will suggest we make a commitment to have 6 weekly sessions together. This allows me to understand more about what is going on for you and for you to start feeling supported. On the 6th session we will have an informal review, where we decide if it feels right to continue. This can then be in an open-ended way, with ongoing reviews when appropriate.
It is up to you how many sessions you have. I work with people on a weekly basis. I have found that people often want to work with me for some months, as they find it very beneficial and can see change happening.
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I welcome you to contact me by phone, text, email or the contact form link below. If I am not available straight away I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can.
