Welcome Trainee Counsellors and Psychotherapists

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This page is for any trainee who needs to begin personal therapy to gain the necessary hours required by their training organisation and for those students who are about to start their placement and are therefore in need of a supervisor.

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Counselling Hours

I am a firm believer in the importance of personal therapy as part of training as a counsellor or psychotherapist, as I think it plays two important functions. The first is to help meet and process the personal material that will inevitably come up as a result of engaging in this kind of training, for your own personal benefit. And so that material it can be more easily owned, processed and parked when practising and therefore not unduly influence the therapeutic process of your future clients. Secondly, to provide the trainee with the experience of what it is like to be a client to help inform your own client work. A third outcome, although one that I believe is best left working away in the background so that you can fully engage in the process of your own personal therapy, is the modelling the trainee experiences through their therapist.

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My Diploma in Integrative Counselling was with the Inter-Psyche Training Institute (NHS) and had a Humanistic, Person Centred, Relational base and also gave consideration to Psychodynamic, Cognitive and Existential models. I am also trained in and have extensive experience practising and delivering Mindfulness and Compassion based approaches and therefore emphasise the qualities of kind-awareness, embodied presence and the felt-sense in my work, which can help individuals meet a range of difficulties, including anxiety and depression for example, with more insight and compassion.

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I currently work mainly with adults of all ages in full time private practice. In the past I worked as a Counsellor with students in an FE College and addicts in a drug and alcohol service within HM's Prisons and have far surpassed 450 + hours of client work.

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I am very happy to work with students as a therapist and know all to well how the training and other costs soon add up! I therefore offer a concession rate to all student counsellors and psychotherapists.

 

You can get in touch here to find out more, as I would be happy to hear from you and be of service to your personal and professional development in this way.

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Supervision Hours

So you are about to start your first placement and make the next important step in becoming a qualified counsellor or psychotherapist. Congratulations for making it here! I know it can often be a nerve racking prospect but you don't go it alone and that's where supervision comes in.

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View on Clinical Supervision
I see supervision as a space where peers come together to openly explore work in a way that helps support your professional and ethical integrity as well as your personal and professional growth and development. The overall aim is to enable you to be of most benefit to your clients within the contexts being worked with, best you can, following your preferred model of orientation. I take a person-centred approach regarding supervisees setting the agenda for what they want to bring and explore each supervision session, but also offer reflections, suggestions and challenges as the need emerges in a collaborative and collegiate spirit.

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I use a number of integrated supervision models to help guide us in this process and adhere to the BACP Ethical Framework and the guidance in the BACP Supervision Competence Framework.

Regardless of the particular model, I see the supervision space as one that can address three areas:

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• Exploring your client work and all that entails.

• Room for you, what you are holding and how the work is impacting you.

• Any administrative, procedural, ethical or managerial considerations that impact your work.

 

You can get in touch here to find out more, as I would be happy to hear from you and be of service to your personal and professional development in this way.