About me
Iam a Humanistic Integrative Counsellor with a Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and a Level 5 Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The term integrative means that, while working with clients, a counsellor can integrate various approaches such as Person Centred, Existential, Transactional Analysis or Gestalt to suit the needs of their clients. I mainly work using ‘Person Centred approach’ combined with CBT or trauma informed therapy depending on my client’s circumstances.
I have experience of working with clients presenting a wide range of psychological difficulties. Many of my clients, regardless of their gender or age, have suffered from sexual abuse and trauma, which often manifests itself in relationship problems, low self-esteem, unhappy home and family life, depression, loneliness or anxiety.
I am professionally trained to work with survivors of sexual abuse. I gained my professional experience while working for STARS, Sexual Trauma and Recovery Service. It is a very sensitive area and people who have experienced sexual trauma often feel very lonely, ashamed and isolated, unable to trust others. This is why many people suppress their feelings, often for many years.
Being unable to talk about what has happened to you can be very stressful and overwhelming. I understand that finding and then contacting a counsellor is not an easy task, which requires a lot of courage from an individual. However, if you ask yourself ‘what do I have to lose?’ and ‘what can I gain?’, the answer is, you can lose the burden from your conscience and gain more confidence and peace in your life.
Working as a Person-Centred counsellor means that my work with you would be tailored to your individual needs. I can work with you using this approach, or if you prefer I can also implement some CBT techniques.
Using CBT can help you to challenge and change unhelpful, negative thoughts and behaviours and thus improve your emotional state. You can learn various coping strategies in order to target your problems.
I am registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and I adhere to the BACP code of practice.
Areas I work with
Continuous Professional Development
I am extremely passionate about the subject of trauma, and I have been working with survivors of sexual abuse and violence since 2017. To maintain my skills at the highest level I take part in additional training for professionals delivered by world leaders in the field of trauma treatment and psychotherapy.
The list below shows some of the training I have undertaken:
- Integrative Sex and Couples Certification Training with Tammy Nelson
- Working with male sexual abuse, Phil Mitchell
- Embracing Suicidal Parts: Using Internal Family Systems (IFS) to Heal Traumatic Wounds, PESI
- Obsessive compulsive disorder: how can therapy help?, Sally Ingram MSc,
- Trauma Conference: The Body Keeps the Score. Trauma Healing with Bessel van der Kolk, MD
- Borderline Personality Disorder and Traumatic Attachment, Janina Fisher, PhD
- The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Masculinity and Sexual Identities, Christiane Sanderson BSc, MSc.
- Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of sexual violence, LimeCulture
- Working with the Body in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Margaret Landale.
- Understanding Anger, EDAS
- The Neuroscience of early Relational Trauma and its relevance to clinical work, Dr Briony Nicholls & Karen Minikin, MSc
- Understanding the effects of attachment style on the teenage years, Niki Reeves, BA
- Trauma informed therapeutic training, STARS
- Working rationally with survivors of childhood sexual abuse and complex trauma, Christiane Sanderson BSc, MSc
Qualifications
• Level 5 Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapeutic Skills and Theory – Bournemouth & Poole College
• Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling – Bournemouth & Poole College
• Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies – Bournemouth & Poole College
• Level 2 Certificate in Introduction to Counselling Skills – Bournemouth & Poole College
• Master’s Degree in German Language, University of Wroclaw, Poland