“No Longer a Square Peg, I’m a Counsellor!”
Before counselling I followed a mostly administrative career ending with a long spell in Local Government. I always felt like the proverbial square peg and no matter how much I tried, I never quite felt I belonged there. My interests lay much more in helping people and ‘doing’ than with counting and reporting. Over the years I spent a lot of time in various volunteering roles which showed me without any doubt that I love working with people. Volunteering helped my confidence and self-esteem and led me to a range of my own personal development opportunities and counselling training was a natural progression. I still remember the sudden realisation that what I was doing felt really right for me. I was surprised and delighted to feel like I was in the right role, I loved what I was doing and I was doing well. No longer a square peg, I’m a counsellor!
My core training and the foundation to my approach is in Person Centred therapy. I truly believe that we all have within us the resources to overcome our struggles and to find our own way through them. Counselling can help to facilitate that change. I place a great deal of value and importance on the trusting relationship between myself and my clients as I believe it is a crucial element of successful and beneficial therapy. Counselling is a confidential, safe place to explore real, inner feelings and experiment with new thinking in order to find the right way forward. It is a unique experience for each individual.
Since qualifying , I have followed a wide range of training and CPD courses and added to my skills and knowledge and I now work integratively, meaning I tailor my approach to suit each individual client’s needs, by drawing on a variety of models and counselling tools.
Throughout my counselling career I worked for several years in the voluntary and community sector where I was able to put my administrative and project management skills to good use, as well as providing volunteer counselling, I worked for many years counselling in a secondary school and I became a clinical supervisor too.
I now work providing voluntary and sessional counselling and supervision services to various organisations and developing my private practice.
Professional Registration & Insurance
I am a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) I hold an Enhanced DBS Certificate, Professional Liability Insurance and I manage all information within the principles of GDPR and the Data Protection Act 1998.
Qualifications
- Certificate in E-Counselling Skills
- Certificate in Youth Counselling
- Certificate in Counselling Supervision
- BACP Certificate of Proficiency
- Foundation Degree in Counselling
- Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Performance Coaching
- Certificate in Post Critical Incident Emotional Support
- Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Skills & Theory
CPD Training
As a professional, practising counsellor it is essential to keep skills and knowledge up to date and to continue learning. As a member of the BACP and working within the BACP Ethical Framework I undertake a minimum of 30 hours of CPD activity every year. Activities include short (1 day) and longer term (6 weeks up to 1 year) certified courses, presentations, workshops. There are too many to list individually but they broadly fall into the categories below. (I hold certificates of attendance for all activities).
- Trauma Resilience
- Staying Safe Online
- Protecting Information and Data
- Supervision
- Gestalt Therapy
- Safeguarding Children
- Safeguarding Adults
- Domestic Abuse Awareness
- Bereavement, loss and grief
- Carer Issues
- Eating Issues
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Counselling Children and Young People
- Suicide Prevention
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues,/LGBTQ+
- Psychodynamic Thought
- Transactional Analysis
- Personal Development – Self Awareness
- Procrastination
- Emotional Freedom Technique
- Personal Safety & Handling Abusive Behaviour