Where are you based ?
My consulting rooms are situated in Alderley Edge. They are very accessible via the motorway network from all directions, as well as by public transport. So provided you live within comfortable travelling distance, we should be able to carry out our sessions face to face.
If it’s not practical for you to visit Alderley Edge for sessions, I also conduct sessions via online Zoom and telephone, as well as on a correspondence basis via email. In exceptional circumstances only, if you are unable to leave your home for medical reasons, I will consider home visit sessions. This is always at my discretion.
If someone has suggested to you that you might benefit from counselling or psychotherapy (often referred to just as therapy), you may not at this point have a clear picture of what these are, or of what the difference is between them.
Counselling
Although there is a good deal of overlap between the two disciplines, counselling concentrates itself on a particular problem or situation you may be facing in your life.Through a course (usually between 6 and 12) of confidential and non-judgemental sessions between you and a counsellor, you will be encouraged to explore the situation, the relationships involved, and your own behaviours.
Working together, you will try to develop an approach to the problem, or a course of action, that is both suitable and practical for you.
It’s important to understand that a counsellor is not an advisor, and will not ‘tell you what to do’. He or she will simply help you to unravel your problem, until you yourself feel you can see a way forward.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a somewhat deeper-probing process than counselling. Your psychotherapist will again work closely with you in a safe and entirely confidential sessions. The course of sessions may continue for 6 – 12 months, or longer.
Your psychotherapist will help you to understand and address persistent behaviours or issues which are impacting adversely on your life, and which may be rooted in childhood, adolescence or sometimes adulthood relationships or traumas.
Psychotherapy does not judge you for anything that may have happened to you, or for the way you may have responded. It does however seek to help you confront and understand your thoughts and feelings, and to learn ways of managing these so that you can move forward in your life with self-acceptance, and with greater resilience to the influences of others in your life, present or past.
Transactional Analysis is a specific theory of personality and system for personal growth and change, developed by the Canadian psychiatrist Eric Berne during the 1920s.
As a Transactional Analysis led practitioner, I try to understand a client’s behaviour by analysing social interactions (your relationships to family, partners, friends, colleagues, strangers, etc.) to determine whether, in each case, your ‘ego state’ can be considered parent-like, child-like, or adult-like.
The approach to overcoming difficulties you are experiencing may then be driven by helping you to alter your ego state in the relationships in question.
The question is more whether You will be able to help You, with some help from me. If you are experiencing anxiety, concern, worry, depression or any other discomfort because of something happening in your life (a marriage or romantic relationship; family relationships; bereavement; work pressures; financial pressure; etc), it’s likely that I will be able to help you find a way forward.
I will certainly be pleased to discuss the situation with you in a free 30-minute no obligation introductory session, so you’d see whether you feel comfortable working with me.
I make every effort to make every client feel comfortable and safe during our consultations, but only you can decide on whether I would be right for you. The best way to do so is by accepting my offer of an initial, free of charge, no-obligation 30 minute consultation.
The length of the sessions are:
Individuals – 50 minutes
Couples – 1 hour 30 minutes
Family and groups – 2 hours
Whatever we discuss in our sessions is confidential. I will not normally share anything that we discuss with anyone else.
There are certain situations in which confidentiality may occasionally have to be breached. However, this is rare and I will explain about this fully in our initial session.
Like all practitioners, Under BACP requirements, I receive regular clinical supervision to ensure my effective casework management. While I may discuss your case in these supervisions, you will never be referred to by name or any other identifying detail.
Yes. You are entirely free to decide to end your therapy at any time.
If you end a course sooner than we had anticipated, or unexpectedly, I will ask you to come in for one final session. This is so we may draw things to a close satisfactorily and agree what you should do in the future if you again find yourself in need of help.