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Face to Face Counselling

We all go through difficult times in our life and unfortunately we are conditioned by society to keep our problems to ourself, put on a brave face and continue as though nothing is wrong. We are left to carry the burden of our problems alone, often to our detriment and over time we can become immersed in feelings or situations that seem to have no resolution or ending.Within the safety of a respectful, honest and confidential relationship the process of describing your difficulties can begin and a sense of clarity will emerge. My role is to help you to understand yourself, so that you become aware of the unconscious patterns and automatic thoughts that are occurring in your everyday life. These patterns and thoughts affect your attitude and behaviour towards yourself and others, by understanding these reflex processes it is possible to make choices and changes which were previously unavailable to you. The aim of counselling is to increase self awareness, self reliance and to resolve difficult feelings with the intention to bring about effective change to enhance well being and quality of life. I offer counselling sessions in a face to face setting or online video counselling sessions using Zoom video conferencing software. Zoom is an established, secure platform used by many online therapists.

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Online Counselling.

Online counselling follows the same fundamental principles as face-to-face counselling. It provides a secure alternative if circumstances prevent us from meeting in person. Instead of a weekly appointment where we meet face to face, we hold the sessions remotely from our own separate locations. Online counselling is a way for you to engage in counselling using internet technology such as video conferencing, email, or online chat services. You direct your counselling by selecting the method of communication you feel most comfortable with, you chose the time, the place and the pace of your counselling to suit your needs. The confidentiality and security of your therapy remains a central to all part of the process.

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A little about me.

I am an experienced Person Centred Counsellor, I qualified at Warwick University, in 2007, ( Diploma in Person Centred, Rogerian, Counselling and Psychotherapy). I am an Accredited member with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. I have practiced for 15 years working with adults and young people over the age of 16 and have worked successfully with hundreds of clients who have struggled with a wide range of complex personal problems and mental health difficulties.

I am passionate about ensuring you feel heard, completely and compassionately. My approach is to help you to explore the self which is often hidden beneath the persona you present to the world. With courage and honesty, I will share with you what I see and hear so you can experience yourself from many different perspectives. More than holding up a mirror , I will offer up a prism to enable you to see the multiple and different facets of your experience and feelings. I am resolved to help you become aware of any discord between what you say and what your body language and tone of voice communicate. I offer you my commitment, courage and honesty to help you to dig deeper into this discord, to uncover what is unsaid, or unacknowledged. I use my deep innate empathy to recognise when this self-exploration is becoming challenging for you and have the skill and experience to know when to carry on, when to pause for moments of silence and reflection and when to stop and return to the known and comfortable.

I am skilled at capturing the micro processes that occur between us, moment by moment, and summarising these so you may benefit from becoming more aware of these aspect of yourself and how they influence your relationship with others. My secure sense of self, and self awareness enables me to steadfastly support you when you express a wide range of emotions including anger, frustration, resentment or fear, safely in your sessions, even when this is directed at me. I am able to ensure that you can experience this safely and to use these moments to learn more about yourself. I won’t give up or shy away when the going gets tough, I’ll hang in there with you with a commitment for you to learn all that you can about yourself to help you to grow in self awareness and to change life limiting behaviours.

I worked with many clients and acquired over a thousand hours experience counselling at Banners Gate Counselling Centre from 2005 to 2019, during this time I was also involved in developing the overall management processes of the Centre, coordinated In-Service Training, facilitated role play and observation in the assessment of potential Placement Counsellors, was a Student Mentor, and I was also a Team Leader for many years. I have gained addition experience working with young people over the age of sixteen, and have completed considerable training in Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults.

My registration number is 056425 MBACP (ACCRED). I adhere to the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions and the BACP guidance Working Online in the Counselling Profession. I have completed additional training in Online and Telephone Counselling which was approved by ACTO, the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online. More information about these organisations can be found at; www.bacp.co.uk and www.acto-org.uk.

I am registered with the Information Commissioners Office and all client data is stored in accordance with the GDPR Data Protection Act 2018. I use a GDPR compliant email system for our correspondence once we have agreed to start counselling.

I have full Indemnity Insurance.

I hold a full DBS Certificate.

How many sessions can I have?

The number of sessions you have will be completely under your control, some client's only work for a few sessions and others can have many sessions. Counselling is not a place to chat, it is a therapeutic space to explore problems and concerns you may have. We will review often to make sure you are still gaining useful insights and are improving in the areas that were troublesome. Sessions are usually every week which may taper down to fortnightly when you feel you are getting close to ending your sessions.

How can a Counsellor Help?

A Counsellor helps you to address problems in a positive way by helping you to clarify issues, increase self awareness and to explore options and develop strategies to deal with difficult situations. Therapy can be helpful for a broad range of issues and problems. Some of the more common reasons people seek therapy are: depression or low mood, stress and anxiety, fears and phobias, trauma including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anger management, eating and body image issues, self-harm, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), abuse and many, many more issues

How can I be assured of a practitioners' professionalism?

By choosing a therapist registered with a professional body you can be reassured that they have met the standards of training and experience required by that organisation. Most professional bodies will also have a Code of Ethics that outlines the way their members should work, and a complaints process to follow if things don’t work out as planned - so you know you’re in good hands. I am an Accredited member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, which is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).

What does it mean if my Counsellor is Accredited?

To become accredited, members must complete many hours of training, practice and supervision and go through a rigorous application and assessment process.
A BACP accredited member is an experienced practitioner who has:

a high standard of core training meeting substantial, specific BACP requirements for advanced practice.
accumulated 450 or more fully supervised clinical practice hours, of which a third are post qualifying.
at least three years of clinical practice.
supervision for a minimum of 1.5 hours per month while in practice.

Do you understand the service I am offering?

I will send you my information sheet about Counselling and Online Counselling.Please read this carefully and make a note of any questions you have. I shall also send you a copy of my Counselling Agreement and my Privacy Statement. Please read through these and again make a note of any questions you have about these documents.

We will hold an Introductory Session.

After you have had an opportunity to read all the information we will arrange an assessment session which will take up to an hour, this is provided free of charge, it is a good ideal to meet with a few therapists to be sure you are making the choice that is best for you.This session it is an opportunity to get a sense of each other and a feel for whether we could work together. We will also discuss any concerns you have about getting started and I will try to answer any questions you may have.

Housekeeping.

If you feel ready to start your counselling after our introductory session I will send you a Counselling Agreement to sign , along with a GDPR Form and Contact Details Form to complete. This will be sent to you by Docusign, which will be password protected to ensure confidentiality. Once you have completed the forms they will be automatically returned to me and you will also be sent a copy of the completed and signed Forms.

Personal details.

When I have received your signed Agreement , GDPR Form and Contact Details I shall contact you to arrange our first session. These documents will be stored on paper and kept in a locked filing cabinet to avoid digitally storing your sensitive data..

The first session.

I shall send you a password protected confidential email which will include a browser link to access your first session. I shall guide you through this process if you are not familiar with Zoom. All further correspondences between ourselves will be via the confidential email service.

Warwickshire, UK

+44-07950 286192
beheardonecounselling@outlook.com
All contact responded too within 48 hours.