FAQs

My professional counselling qualification is a Level 6 Diploma in Humanistic & Integrative Counselling which I gained after successfully a four-year training course at the Bath Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy – one of the leading training institutes for counselling and psychotherapy in the UK. My training was rooted in the person-centred philosophy of Carl Rogers alongside the integrated understanding of important psychoanalytic concepts and working modalities such as psychodynamic practice and family relationships, systems theory and existential psychotherapy amongst other things. Being a Humanistic and Integrative Counsellor means that I work with you as a whole person to explore your experience, what has happened to you in the past, how this may have impacted your beliefs about yourself, your relationships and your actions in the here and now. As an integrative practitioner, I bring a variety of working methods, resourcing ideas and psychological understanding to our work together. The way I work is therefore tailored to each client and is responsive to their individual needs but, ultimately, I believe we are responsible for ourselves and the choices we make and that the efficacy of any therapy begins and ends with what the client is able to bring to the work. My role is not to advise you but to facilitate your process and personal development through the quality and realness of our therapeutic relationship.

Being accredited as a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor denotes a higher level of professional practice experience and expertise than represented by a counselling qualification alone, as recognised and accredited by the UK Council for Counselling & Psychotherapy (UKCP). Psychotherapeutic Counsellors tend to work in more open ended, longer term therapeutic relationships, much as you might typically expect to work with a psychotherapist for example but there are no hard and fast rules and different therapy professionals work in different ways according to their training and professional experience.

Being able to work well in therapy follows from establishing a trusting and authentic relationship within which you feel safe and able to talk openly about your feelings and experience. Sometimes people feel they want to deal with a specific issue and the work could be quite short-lived. More often though, people seeking counselling support usually do so when they are struggling with a significant problem or adverse experiences in the past that are making it difficult to live happily or to be at ease with themselves and others. In these instances, therapy can be an important longer-term way of supporting and resourcing ourselves. I offer an initial telephone consultation session for free, typically lasting between 20-30 minutes to discuss what you are looking for from therapy and to explore whether we might work well together. This provides an opportunity for us to discuss approach and duration as necessary and appropriate. It is important to bear in mind though that therapy is seldom a ’quick fix’ solution to one’s problems. It takes time, commitment and often great courage to develop the kind of insight and capacity for personal change that can follow from being in therapy with the right therapist for you.

My standard session time is 50 minutes and we will usually meet at the same time on the same day each week excluding agreed holiday weeks. I sometimes offer longer sessions or we may on occasion choose to work on a fortnightly basis as and if it seems appropriate and workable. Longer sessions are charged at a different rate than standard session times and agreed on an individual basis according to client needs and affordability considerations. Whatever we agree regarding the duration and frequency of sessions, consistency and rhythm are of fundamental importance when so much else in life seems turbulent and unreliable. I will be here whether you choose to attend or not, unless you have let me know you are unable to attend for any reason. Cancelled sessions will be charged for unless the cancellation has been made with more than 24 hours’ notice.

If you have not given 24 hours advance notice of cancellation, I would normally expect you to pay the full session fee. There are of course circumstances in which this may not be appropriate in which case I may choose to waive payment. I take six weeks holiday a year and do not charge for weeks when I am not available to work. Neither do I charge clients any form of retainer fee for weeks when they plan to take their own holidays. I will give you as much notice as possible as to when I plan to take my holidays and encourage my clients to do likewise as a matter of basic courtesy and mutual respect.

Normally we will spend much of the first session working through a preliminary assessment to establish basic biographical details and for you to reflect on what has brought you to therapy at this time in your life and what you hope to gain from the process. The first session is a good opportunity for us both to get a better idea of how we feel we might work together in practice and whether we are a good ‘fit’ for each other. There are plenty of therapists out there and I always encourage prospective clients to find someone they feel comfortable with and relationally attuned to your needs. I may be the perfect therapist for you, or it may be that you would work better with somebody else. What matters is finding the right person for you. It is important that we both feel able to reflect openly about that and if it doesn’t feel right then there is no obligation on either part to continue in the work together.

Yes, always.

I have many online and telephone clients and am very experienced and comfortable working in this way. Although I enjoy working in-person with clients, I appreciate it doesn't suit everyone and that there may be very good reasons why working online or by telephone may be preferable for an individual according to their circumstances and personal histories.