About Me
Hello, my name is Fiona.
I am a fully qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with a Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy obtained from Leeds Beckett University.
Over the past twenty years I have worked in various professional roles including as a social worker and as a special educational needs officer for Local Authorities supporting individuals and their families through difficult times, helping them to find solutions to their challenges and to improve outcomes in their lives. I have worked with the elderly, individuals with learning and physical disabilities, individuals with mental health difficulties and those disadvantaged within society through poverty, immigration or other such factors. I have also worked with individuals who have simply hit a difficult patch in certain parts of their lives and need some additional support, understanding, time and space to explore these and move forward.
My Qualifications:
- Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy
- Post Graduate Certificate in Counselling Skills
- Master of Arts in Social Work
- Bachelors of Science degree in Crime and Social Policy
Services
I offer support with a wide range of difficulties including:
- Grief and Loss
- Sleeping difficulties
- Stress and Burnout
- Anxiety Disorders
- Depression and Low Mood
- Low Self Esteem
- Perinatal matters
- Relationship difficulties
- Attachment issues
- Sexuality
- Gender
- Disability
- Pain and somatic issues
- Understanding yourself and day-to-day challenges such as adjusting to changes in life: a new job, parenthood, moving house, retirement, starting university etc.
My Approach
I understand that entering into counselling may feel like a big step, and understandably, you may be concerned about what the process involves. Simply put, counselling allows you to explore your thoughts and feelings in a safe, non-judgemental space, giving you the opportunity to see the issues that are bothering you more clearly and find ways to make the intolerable tolerable.
My initial training is grounded in purist Person-Centred therapy; however, I work as an integrative counsellor.
It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard.
Rodgers 1980
How it works / Fees
I offer individuals, over 18 years of age, long or short-term counselling.
Sessions last 50 minutes and are run either face-to-face, through ‘walk and talk’ sessions out in nature, or online through zoom or by telephone.
Initial Consultation
Free
I understand that committing to therapy can be a daunting prospect. So, to make sure I’m the right person for you I offer an informal phone call of around 20 minutes to give us the opportunity to talk a little about your needs, the way I work and to check that our schedules fit.
Walk & Talk Session
£50
Walk and Talk therapy is when, instead of sitting in front of a therapist in a traditional therapy room setting, the session takes place outdoors walking side by side in nature.
Online / Telephone Session
£50
An increasingly popular option for those who can’t make face-to-face counselling sessions is video conference/chat counselling.