Appointments & Fees

Free 30 minute initial session

The thirty minute session I offer free of charge allows you to come and meet with me to see how you feel about having counselling. If you do not want to do this face to face we can have this by telephone, Zoom or Skype. You can use this initial meeting to tell me why you are seeking counselling and ask me any questions you may have. This exploratory session can help you make a decision about whether to begin counselling/psychotherapy and gives you an opportunity to discover if you feel comfortable working with me. The rapport and resonance you feel with a therapist and the setting or medium in which the counselling takes place is important, what might feel right for one person, will not for another, so please ask for this free appointment, which is offered without any obligation to have an assessment or begin therapy with me.

Phone 07982 602229 or use the Contact Form Below / Book Appointment page.

Assessment

When we meet up for the first time, if you wish to continue straight away after your free half hour appointment and have a one hour assessment session you can do so (this one hour would be chargeable).

Having a ninety minute appointment gives time for a detailed and thorough assessment.

At the end of your assessment session, if either of us feel any concerns about this being the right type of help or whether I am the right therapist for you to work with, we will discuss this and it could be that an appropriate referral of different type of therapy or help would be more beneficial. We will decide on the way we will work together, my assessment of your therapeutic needs will be based on your presenting problem as well as the complexity and depth of your historical issues and the extent to which these have been addressed or worked through. Whatever is decided initially, we will be reviewing the therapeutic work together regularly and the way of working can be changed, if needed or necessary.

When we have had a first thirty minute meeting and an assessment session, we would meet up once a week initially and each session lasts for one hour.

Face to face, telephone or Skype?

It is important that you find the right counsellor for you, a good rapport, empathic connection or resonance can make a big difference in helping you to open up and talk freely, without inhibition. As well as finding the right person to work with, you need to work in a way that is best suited to your particular therapeutic needs and personal preferences. Many people need to be in the same physical space and feel they can only have a therapeutic relationship face to face. Others cannot do this due to work/life commitments or geographical location but still want a visual connection so prefer the convenience of Skype. Maybe you do not like the idea of meeting in person or this is difficult for you and would rather just talk by telephone. It can sometimes feel easier to open up and discuss delicate or sensitive issues when using this medium.

Counselling or Psychotherapy? Short term/long term/open-ended?

Counselling can be from a few sessions up to a few months in duration, it is more short-term and the work will have a more cognitive element and will focus on a particular issue or problem you want help with. Psychotherapy is a longer term, open ended way of working which is helpful for more deep rooted problems and difficulties which have been affecting you for some time. Open ended psychotherapy can last from six months to a year and sometimes is engaged in for longer, depending on the depth of the work needed. Childhood abuse, for example can have very debilitating and damaging consequences which take time to work through. Whichever way you decide to work you are always in control of the ending and can stop your counselling or psychotherapy at any time, although it is always beneficial to have some time to prepare for ending and to work towards it.

If you think you would feel anxious about only having a set number of sessions available to you and would focus too much on the coming ending, an open ended arrangement might suit you better. Some people work better this way and find having the ending in sight from the start affects the process negatively. For others, having a known ending date or set amount of sessions feels more comfortable, as it creates a definite time scale and structure for the work. We can either decide from the outset to have short term counselling of a specific duration, or to review the work after a set number of sessions and then work towards ending over an agreed period of time. Or we can have an open-ended relationship where we review the work together regularly and you decide when you feel ready to end. A lot depends on what you are bringing to therapy and what you want from it, everyone is unique and your experiences and the way they have affected you are also. Psychotherapy can help with deep rooted, long-standing problems and very traumatic experiences as far back as early childhood which still continue to have a detrimental impact your life and relationships and for which short term counselling may not be effective.

Once we have established a good working alliance, if you need to change to meeting fortnightly or even monthly this can be discussed and implemented if it would not negatively affect the therapeutic work at that stage. A short term counselling contract of eight to twelve sessions should ideally be on a weekly basis but when working longer term, after a few months some people find that less frequent sessions are needed or psychotherapy can be gradually ended by coming fortnightly or monthly.

Fees

I offer a FREE initial consultation of half an hour

Please contact me directly to arrange this.

My fee for individual therapy is £50 and £60 for couples

I am able to offer a discretional reduction in circumstances of genuine financial need, please mention this in your initial free meeting if you feel you might be eligible.

Investing in yourself and future well-being

The investment you make when choosing to engage in counselling or psychotherapy is one you are making in yourself and is a commitment to positive change and personal growth. If you are having difficulties with one or two areas of your life which you would like to improve or struggling with deeper rooted personal issues or unresolved trauma from the past and feel you need a confidential, professional relationship to work things out, try having an initial assessment session to see how you feel before making any commitment to therapy.