Counselling & Psychotherapy Explained
There is no single reason why someone chooses to begin therapy.
There is no typical therapeutic session, however, there are some approaches more brief than others in time required which will be discussed with you at our first meeting.
How to decide if you need counselling/psychotherapy?
- Do you wish to make changes in your life?
- Do you wish to make sense of your individual circumstances?
- Do you require support as you begin to go through the journey of change?
- Do you wish to feel better equipped to deal with the future?
- Do you need to talk to someone that is not going to judge you?
Who are the people that have used this service?
I welcome diversity and I am discreet. My clientele spans across cultures, disabilities, employment groups, gender, religion and sexual orientation.
What can I expect to receive from attending counselling/psychotherapy?
- I provide a confidential setting where you are free to talk about any concerns you have.
- I provide you with the space to talk through any issues that is personal to you, without feeling judged.
- I provide a place where you will always be treated with respect.
- It provides an opportunity to see a difficulty from a different perspective.
- It creates options for you to explore and determines which one is best for you.
Is counselling/psychotherapy confidential?
Completely. What is discussed within the counselling sessions, stays in the counselling sessions. The only circumstance where confidentiality might be broken is if the client poses a serious risk either to themself or to anyone else. I will always try to discuss the need for a break-in confidentiality with the client first and the reason for this.
Can I use my health insurance to pay for sessions?
I am registered to work with the following insurance companies which may differ what services can be offered depending on the presenting issues. I reserve the right to not accept insurance if they are not able to provide adequate service for such presenting issues.
The insurance companies I am registered to work with are:
- Aviva
- Vitality
- Simply Health
- WPA
How many sessions will I need? And how long are each sessions?
The number of sessions will depend on your goals and the issues you would like to resolve. Brief therapy begins at around 4-6 sessions. Each session lasts 50 minutes from the schedule start time. Some bespoke sessions can be arranged for longer durations, which can be discussed at onset or while engaging within sessions.
How many sessions do I have to commit to?
You do not have to commit to any number of sessions. You can decide whether you book another appointment at the end of each session; however, sessions not cancelled within 48 hours will be subject to a fee.
All counsellors/psychotherapists/practitioners are required to be in clinical supervision which is a form of consultative support, and must therefore discuss their work with at least one other person. But a supervisor is also bound by rules of confidentiality and so in practice, there is no likelihood of a breach of confidentiality and trust.
Will my counsellor/therapist be available to me in a crisis?
I will be available to you at your scheduled appointment time. I am not able to provide an emergency service to you; however, I will be able to provide you with other resources to help with during a crisis, which will be provided to you during your assessment.
What kind of supervision is available?
I offer professional clinical supervision to experienced and learning practitioners that focuses on facilitating a place of support, learning and confidentiality for my supervisees. This approach may be used effectively with all types of counselling and psychotherapies, support workers inclusive of alternative therapies.
I am a recognised clinical supervisor for the University of Ulster and I have worked as a clinical supervisor for therapists at Trinity College Dublin as well as at an international level.
I offer clinical supervision for all therapeutic approaches while I also specialise in the following:
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and other Somatic/Body Psychotherapies
- Behaviour Therapy
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
- Emotional Freedom Technique
- Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling
- Person-Centred Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Internal/External System-Based Therapies
- Trauma Informed Therapies
I have also extensive experience providing supervision to the ICSS and primary school contracts where I provided clinical supervision to therapists and other professionals working with children & young people.
I have also provided monthly and/or adhoc supervision specifically supporting professionals working with neurodivergent clients and/or therapists/practitioners.
Applicants should visit their professional body association website to obtain the most up-to-date standards for mentoring and supervision.
Sessions can take place remotely via a digital platform e.g Microsoft Teams and Google Meet or another secure media source. For face to face sessions, I can provide a safe and comfortable therapy room which allows for most therapies to be accommodated. For bespoke services that require travel, a therapy room may need to be found and additional costs for room and travel may be added. Further information or arrangements can be discussed.
Can my employer be invoiced directly?
If your employer is paying for your sessions, I can bill them on a monthly basis, however an agreement must be first put in place before that can occur.
The Different Types of Therapy
Therapies
I have extensive training and experience applying the following psychotherapy and counselling models. Based on each individual’s needs, I can offer an integral or specific approach to therapy.
Integrative and Pluralistic
I am extensively training in a wide range of therapies that allows me to integrate these therapeutic approaches or specifically work solely with a particular therapeutic approach (pluralistic) as depending on the clients needs which is determined at the first consultation or assessment meeting.
Behavioural Support Services
Professionals trained in behavioural support services engage in the specific and comprehensive use of principles of learning, to support the nurturing and development of behaviour that is desired by individuals who may not have a way to achieve this for themselves.
In order to address the behavioural needs of widely varying individuals in diverse settings, I explore what their needs are in the context of some broader systems, and explore how they may begin to find ways to navigate their surroundings, as well as their own stress levels. Examples of these applications include: building the skills and achievements of children in the home, school and community settings; enhancing the development, abilities, and choices of children/adults with various disabilities, and augmenting the performance and satisfaction of employees in organisations and businesses.
Behavioural Therapy
This therapy is based on the belief that behaviour is learnt in response to past experience and can be unlearnt, or changed, without analysing the past to find the reason for the behaviour. It works well for compulsive and obsessive behaviour, fears, phobias and addictions as well as other issues.
Brief Therapy (see also Solution Focused Brief Therapy)
This therapy uses the cognitive behavioural approach with a small, planned number of sessions and possibly a single follow-up session after some time has elapsed.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
This therapy combines cognitive and behavioural techniques. Clients are taught ways to change thoughts and expectations along with relaxation techniques. It has been recognised by the NICE guidelines as an effective therapy. It is often used for PTSD, trauma related issues, stress-related ailments, phobias, obsessions, eating disorders and, (at the same time as drug treatment), major depression.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)
This is an empirically supported emotion focused therapy that provides an experiential/process guiding strategy for healing chronic and complex emotional injuries as well as complex trauma.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
This is a comprehensive, evidence based integrative psychotherapy approach. It is recognised by the NICE guidelines as a documented successful therapy in treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, the consequences of adverse life events and phobias as well as other issues.
Focusing
This is an approach to introspection. It is a natural ability where the client gets in touch with the “felt sense” of the problem and may learn to become aware and except the experience.
Guided Imagery
Any of various techniques (as a series of verbal suggestions) used to guide another person or oneself in imagining sensations and especially in visualising an image in the mind to bring about a desired physical response (as a reduction in stress, anxiety, pain or other issues).
Life Coaching
A life coach, in essence, is someone who is trained and skilled to help bring out the best of you and to help you plot a course, maintain direction and even to know when you get there.
Pain Management
Pain can be an obstacle for clients engaging in therapy. This often means that clients stress levels increase since their mental health issues and that they have brought with them to therapy which are not being dealt with – these stress levels increase their experience of pain.
Pain often is described as chronic pain ranging from back, neck, arthritic, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain from a wide range of medical conditions
This has led me to combine elements from a range of training and experience to develop an approach that may begin to reduce the magnification and intensification of pain from this viscous circle and bring it back to a more manageable level. For some it has even reduced the pain level to less than the initial experience.
This approach brings together elements of mindfulness, sensory coding and conceptualising the pain so that it is clearly defined. Through consulting with the client, they can learn to apply their day to help alleviate the heightened sensitivity to pain that could be arising due to their specific situation
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® draws from somatic therapies, neuroscience, attachment theory, and cognitive approaches, as well as from the Hakomi Method.
Since the first course in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® was offered in the early 1980’s, it has gained international acclaim.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy directly treats the effects of trauma on the body, which in turn facilitates emotional and cognitive processing. This method is especially beneficial for clinicians working with dissociation, emotional reactivity or flat affect, frozen states or hyper-arousal and other PTSD symptoms.
Transactional Analysis
This is based on the belief that everyone has a child, adult and parent-self within them and, within each social interaction, one-self predominates. By recognising these roles, a client can choose which one to adopt and so change behaviour.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
This therapy promotes positive change rather than dwelling on past problems. Clients are encouraged to focus positively on what they do well and to set goals and work out how to achieve them. As few as three or four sessions may be beneficial.
Systemic Therapies
These are the therapies which have, as their aim, a change in the transactional pattern of members. It can be used as the generic term for family therapy and marital therapy.
Our Services
UK Mainland, Northern Ireland & ROI counselling, psychotherapy and clinical supervisory services. Neurodiversity practitioner with specialisation in therapeutic support for individuals who identify as autistic and other neurodivergent ways of being. Trauma informed and attachment based support.
