What started my interest into professional counselling?

After experiencing 2 very life changing events really close to each other, I found myself reeling from the impact of those.  I turned to my doctor and had 6 weeks of NHS counselling.  Luckily, it was a long time ago and I didn't have to wait more than a week or two.  The lady I had was brilliant and I felt understood, listened to, wasn't judged at all and by the end I didn't feel like I was completely going mad.

A few years later, I found myself supporting 2 friends with their individual struggles and both said something along the lines of 'it has been easy to talk to you' and 'you should do this' and for me, a seed was planted.  

Life prevented me from doing much about it initally but then a few years later, I was able to dip my toe into re-training.  Life, again, prevented me from following that up straight away but then, several years later I had a 'now or never' moment and plunged into re-training.  It feels like one of the best decisions I have ever made.

I have over 14 years of experience helping people navigate anxiety, burnout, low mood, depression and relationship struggles in the home, wider family or at work.  I have helped individuals adjust to life after bereavement, life changing injuries, divorce and supported others through their journey from addiction to sobriety.  For others, it can be a sense of 'not where they want to be in life' and we work to find out where they want to be and aim to get them on the path to achieving that.  

During my training, I did work at DHI in Bath, Southside Project in Bath providing the counselling support for Southside which mainly support victims of Domestic Violence and Abuse and was a counsellor at Weston College supporting students and staff.

I have a full DBS check (Disclosure and Barring) certificate - number 001865045871.  Anyone working with children should hold one of these.

Since my initial training I have undertaken further training on a range of subjects regarding working with younger people, working with couples (Certificate in Relational Couples Therapy), a lot of mindfulness training (Mindfulness based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and specific traning around Transgender, Non-Binary, Gender Identity and Sexual Identity and LGBTQA+  struggles.

I offer individual mental health support in Chilcompton face to face and am close to Midsomer Norton and Radstock and the Mendip area.