About Counselling
A therapeutic counsellor provides a safe and confidential space for you to be heard, accepted and valued, as you share your unique experiences and explore your thoughts and feelings. To enable you to feel safe to disclose what is happening for you and have the freedom to explore, you need to experience your counsellor is genuine, non-judgemental, empathetic and compassionate.
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak, whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break (Shakespeare)
In short term counselling the focus is upon supporting you in your current difficulties. In longer term open ended counselling I use a psychotherapeutic approach. This approach explores what's happening and how things are for you, so you and I may learn more about your patterns in how you think, feel and act within your relationship with self and others. Once we recognise these patterns, we need to find out more about their origins and purpose and if there is something you would like to change, or to consider how to reconcile with what you cannot change, so you may embrace the kaleidoscope of life. As you make sense of your experiences, I will be alongside you to support and challenge to enable you to move forward at your pace.
My Approach
My humanistic approach is to accept each person's uniqueness and I recognise individual ability to develop and make choices. I promote self-awareness and change by inviting exploration together of your experiences. This may include your patterns of relating to self and others and how this impacts upon your life.
I believe the therapeutic relationship is the key to promote personal growth. Therefore, the initial session gives you the opportunity to ask me any questions and to consider if I am the counsellor you would like alongside you. If you decide to continue counselling with me, we will discuss and mutually agree a therapeutic contract and review how things are going throughout counselling.
To get started with counselling the next step is to call, text or email me with any queries you have or to book an initial session. Also, in this session you will have the space to talk about what has led you into counselling and your hopes for counselling. It is okay if you do not know, as counselling may focus upon the issues that emerge within the therapeutic process.
A counsellor is independent from other people in your life and sessions are usually for a set time, day and venue that is mutually agreed between you and your counsellor.
For guidance on choosing a therapist and information on what is counselling and psychotherapy, please go to the information and links page.
Location
My practice room is in a counselling centre in East Oxford, within easy reach of Oxford city centre and the ring road. There is free street parking and the number 3 bus stop is within a few minutes walking distance.
For my location CLICK HERE for Google Maps
