Welcome

Hi, thank you for getting this far. My counselling approach is to be fully engaged in the here and now, but using your past experiences or current problems such as anxiety as a basis for improving your situation. I want you to feel that you are taking hold of the difficulties you are having and then see how to deal with these in a safe but effecive way. I do not use mindfulness as a treatment in itself but it can be incorporated should I feel that it would be of use to you. I like to keep my counselling skills up to date, so I continually study and increase my knowledge. 

Before the first session, I will email you to obtain information that will assist me in planning your therapy sessions. Please ensure that these are all completed and returned to me no later than 48 hours prior to your first appointment.  For six session course, payment is needed to be received 24 hours prior to your session commencement.

One very important thing for you to note is that i expect you to do "homework", as this will be tied in to your therapy and is a very important aspect. This needs to be emailed to me prior to our session.

So, a bit more about me - I am 52 and married to my 3rd Husband, and it is our anniversary in July. We have 4 grown up children between us but they do not live with us. Instead we have our 4 "furkids"; 2 dogs and 2 cats. We have a fairly good life but have overcome a great deal between us which has made us stronger and led to me continually learning and adding to my skills in counselling. I enjoy reading crime, police procedural, history, true life and comedic books. My life prior to counselling was in housing management. In addition to my counselling qualifiactions, in the past two years I have also qualified as a dog groomer, taken courses in animal behaviour and dog training. 

I usually offer an initial appointment in which I can learn a little about you and your issues and explain what sort of structure I will be using and a general plan to my approach. Normally the plan will be emailed to you within 48 hours of the appointment. I ask that the six sessions are booked in advance. In addition, I can offer a longer initial session block of 10 and a discount can be applied if booked and paid for in advacce.

What I expect from my clients is for them to keep to their session times, do the homework I set you (as this will make a huge difference to the quality of the therapy) and let me know in plenty of time should you be unable to keep a session. This means that I can offer the time slot to another client. If a session is cancelled within 48 hours, then a charge equal to one session will be made. However, if you have a serious problem then please call me as there are obviously circumstances whereby it is not possible for you to do this.

In the event of you missing two sessions without adequate reason, or for no contact at all, your position as a client will be in jeopardy but I will try to work with you thrugh the issues. In view of the Covid10, and to encompass the way counselling is changing, all sessions will be online via video chat, the details of which will be provided to you on registration.