FAQs

What is counselling?

Counselling is a talking therapy, also known as psychotherapy, where a qualified therapist will work with you in a supportive way to address any difficulties you are facing in your life or within yourself. During this process, your counsellor will create a space for you to explore your thoughts, feelings and experiences and how your life is being affected. What we look at together is up to you, and there are many ways we can work together to unravel what is going on for you.

Sometimes it is helpful to understand how our past experiences can affect the present, and counselling can help you gain more self-awareness and help you make sense of how older patterns or experiences can show up in the present. It can feel nerve-wracking to start counselling, especially if you haven’t experienced it before, but there is no right or wrong way to engage in counselling and you are welcome to bring anything you’d like to talk about.

Integrative counselling means that during my training, I learned multiple different frameworks to help me understand what you are experiencing which means we can work together in the way that suits you as an individual. I will always listen to you in a non-judgemental and empathic way, and whilst counselling is helpful to consider different perspectives and explore your feelings, I will not offer you advice.

Do I have to be neurodivergent or LGBTQI+ to work with you?

No, you don't. I work with a variety of people and different issues that aren't related to neurodivergence or sexuality/gender but acknowledge that it's important for neurodivergent and LGBTQI+ individuals to feel seen, heard, understood and welcome in the counselling space. Above all, I want everybody to feel accepted for who they are when working with me.

What are your qualifications?

I am a fully qualified counsellor and registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Please see my qualifications on my about me page. You can also find me on the BACP register.

What to expect?

From the point of making an enquiry with me, I aim to be prompt in my responses (within 24 hours) and from there we will look at our availability and book in an initial appointment. Before the initial appointment, I will gather some information from you and send you a copy of my client agreement which lays out my terms for working with me. During our initial session, we will discuss these terms and we can add or clarify points to establish the practical details of working together.

The first session gives you an idea of what it is like working with me and what I can offer you. After this point, you can decide whether you would like to continue ongoing sessions with me and the frequency. Please be assured that if you do not want to continue sessions with me, this is okay. It is really important that you feel comfortable and that you have the right counsellor for you and you may not feel like that is me.

What is counselling for?

Working together in counselling can be short-term with specific goals in mind, or longer-term work which can sometimes go all the way back to your childhood. For this reason, when we start working together we will establish what you are coming to counselling for. The length of time you are in counselling will vary based on what you are wanting to work through and it isn't unusual for these things to change at different points. Some common issues that people bring to counselling are:

• exploring your childhood
• specific life experiences or transitions
• your relationships
• exploring emotions, thoughts and behaviour
• difficulties that are affecting your daily life

You can visit a counsellor at any time in your life and some people leave and re-visit counselling multiple times depending on what’s going on in their lives. If you have any questions about counselling or wonder if it’s right for you, please feel free to contact me.