Certified By: | BACP |
From: | United Kingdom (UK) |
Type of session: | Secure Video Call, Via Phone |
Also speaks: | English |
Specialty: | Obsessive compulsive disorders |
Target Age Group: | Adult |
Therapist Since: | 27/07/2015 |
I got into counselling through my own experience of suffering with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as a child and into my 20s. I studied politics at university and had embarked on a career in politics but after I received treatment for OCD, I decided that I wanted to help others in the way that I had been helped and so I began counselling training. My training opened my eyes to the enormity of the mental health struggle in general and gave me a real insight into the variety of therapeutic tools on offer to help people with a wide range of conditions.
Whilst helping those with the symptoms of OCD is the foundation from which my career in counselling began, I have evolved to become a more general counsellor, able to work with a range of (mild to moderate) presenting issues such as depression, anxiety, low-self esteem, abortion, bereavement, bullying, panic attacks, post-natal depression, pregnancy and birth, redundancy, relationship problems, work-related stress, separation and divorce and lack/loss of self-confidence.
I worked in the field of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in a voluntary capacity before undertaking formal counselling training and I then officially qualified in 2015 with a CPCAB Level 4 Advanced Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. Since then, I have gained a great deal of experience working with clients online (via telephone and video calling) suffering with OCD.
Aside from my private practice, since 2016, I have worked as a Psychological Therapy Consultant for an online referral agency in which my role is to conduct detailed assessments with clients looking to embark on private therapy and to make recommendations about the specific model of therapy that I feel might be the most suitable for them. Starting therapy is often a daunting and unknown process and through my work in this field, I am able to give the clients some idea of what they can expect, find out about what they ultimately want to achieve in therapy and establish what sort of approach to therapy (there are many!) might be the best fit for them.
My approach to counselling is Integrative, which means that I use a number of different perspectives that I tailor to suit the individual client. I firmly believe that being able to adapt the tools and methods you use in therapy to the client in front of you/on the other end of the phone is really crucial. The models I use and have a firm theoretical grounding in are the Person-Centred approach, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), as well as concepts from the Psychodynamic model.