About me
Who am I?
Thanks for stopping by my website.
If you haven't already figured it out, my name is Naomi and I'm a qualified Counsellor (MA Integrative Counselling - 2012) with over 10 years clinical experience. I've worked in both Private Practise and in the Charity sector, and am an inclusive and trauma informed therapist. I've trained in a variety of modalities and have worked with many issues including - but not limited to - Depression, Anxiety, Terminal Illness, Abuse Survivors, Low Self Esteem, Agoraphobia, Relationship Problems, Bereavement and Disability/Chronic Illness.
Why Counselling?
Counselling means different thing to different people.
Essentially, its a way for you to talk though your problems with a person who is trained not just to listen, but to listen well and to understand. The job of a counsellor is to help you unpicked the knots that are all tied up inside of you, to help bring clarity to confusion and to walk with you into those (inner) places that are too scary or painful to go alone.
The job of a counsellor is to help you take back control of your own emotions and thoughts. To help you believe in yourself again and to trust in your own intuition and self worth. To build your confidence enough that you can live the sort of life you want without being a slave to your fears, dramas and past wounding. To help you learn to love yourself (and for most of us, it really is something that we have to *learn*) in healthy ways that build you up rather tear you down. And sometimes, its the job of a counsellor to call you out on all the ways you betray yourself and sell yourself short.
A counsellor's job is not to heal you. Its a counsellors job to help you heal yourself, to grow yourself, one small step at a time.
Short term or Long Term?
Both short term and longer term therapy have their benefits and draw backs. Short term therapy can be a quick way of working towards a specific problem, but
My Approach
Deciding that you want or need counselling is no small matter. It takes a huge amount of self-honesty and courage to face the reality that maybe you're not coping with life as well as you'd like. And it takes an even larger amount of courage to reach out to somebody - a stranger who you've never met before - and seek out help. So, whether or not you chose me as your counsellor, let me congratulate you on taking those first all important steps towards your own healing ...
My training is in Integrative Counselling, which essentially means that I tailor my approach to the needs of you, the client. Depending what you're going through right now and whether we're working together on a short term basis (usually around 6-12 weeks) or you're in it for the long haul (3 months +) we'll approach the time we have together differently. Short term work usually means working with one issue and focusing on it pretty concisely. Longer term work can be broader in its scope and - as often happens - you pull the thread of one issue in your life only to find that it connects to many other aspects of your inner and outer worlds. If that happens we can - if you want - chose to explore those other avenues.
My primary approach is Person Centred, which means that you get treated with the respect you deserve as both expert and author of your own life. Depending on what your needs are - and the outcomes you'd like to see from therapy - my job is to help facilitate you in your exploration, healing and personal growth. Sometimes that's done in a very gentle and hands off way, and sometimes in a more structured approach.
