It’s crucial that therapists work within their level of professional competence. To make it easy to see where mine sits I’ve laid it out below.
My current experience enables me to work with people who
ARE SUFFERING FROM MILD TO MODERATE LIFE CHALLENGES OR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES. INCLUDING FEELING LOST OR STUCK, ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, GRIEF, A TRAUMATIC EVENT, ANGER, HOPELESSNESS.
ARE AGED 18 OR OVER.
ESSENTIAL SESSION INFORMATION
I offer a choice of face-to-face or online sessions for £35, with a free taster session to see if we click.
At the end of your free 30 minute session we decide together whether to continue into formal sessions - which are 50 minutes long and weekly for a period of time agreed by us both. During our first formal session we'll go over our counselling contract to help you understand your rights as a client and the regulations I need to follow that cover our work together.
WHAT HAPPENS IN SESSIONS
The therapy I use is Person-Centered Therapy. Here’s what it’s all about.
Person-Centered therapy is a talking therapy, and that's what we'll do.
The aim is to provide you a comfortable and confidential space to talk as much or as little as you need to about the things that are important to you. In this space you'll be listened to without judgement and you'll have the focused attention of someone who genuinely wants to understand what it's like to walk in your shoes.
Within this kind of environment, many things can and do happen. For example, issues that were creating huge distress are shared and begin to lose some of their intensity. Complicated problems are given the space to be laid out, inspected, untangled and organised. Unrecognised wants and needs start to emerge and new confidence and self-valuing begins to bubble up.
These results are almost all completely down to you having the right conditions to self-heal and grow in the direction that's right for you. My job is to create those conditions, and occasionally - when appropriate - to gently help emergent moments of meaning and growth to catch hold and have the chance to take root.
Person-Centered Therapy theory, a brief description in plain language.
Person-Centered Therapists believe that only you know the way to heal and grow in a way that's right for yourself.
The reason that this growth doesn't happen for many of us is due to circumstances in our lives that have got in the way of us being able to listen to our inner-self (organismic self) and understand the warning messages that it sends us when we're not in alignment - in the form of emotional and psychological distress.
The blocks to our organismic self being heard come primarily from the beliefs and values that we've taken on board in order to gain love and acceptance during our life. Rules like 'I must always be like this' or 'Good people never do that' in Person-Centered theory are known as Conditions of Worth.
So in it's very simplest form, Person-Centered therapy aims to help people reconnect with - and be able to understand - their Organismic Self, become aware of the Conditions of Worth that have been over-riding their real needs, and start to explore how to be more aligned internally and externally in the world (we call this being Congruent).
SESSION AND PAYMENT TERMS & CONDITIONS
SESSION PRIVACY AND SAFETY INFORMATION
The free first session is online only, and you need to be in a private and quiet space. The session duration is 30 minutes.
Face to face sessions are held in a counselling room at my home on the first floor. If you're not able to manage stairs alternative session space can be arranged at an additional cost.
Face to face sessions are audio recorded to protect clients and myself, and to enhance my professional development.
Session days and times are agreed by us both before formal sessions begin (so during or after the free session) and they are fixed to that day and time - for example, every Wednesday at 11am.
To cancel a session I need to be informed (by email) at least an hour before the session start time or it will be logged as a late cancellation. Three late cancellations could result in all sessions being terminated.
Being late for a session will reduce your session time. You pay for a slot which begins at a fixed time.
Not attending a session twice without giving any notice will likely result in sessions being terminated.
Sessions can’t take place if I suspect that you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
You can quit having sessions completely at any time without notice, although I’d much prefer to hear about your reasons for ending sessions.
Payment for an upcoming session needs to be completed at least an hour before the session starts. An online payment link will be emailed to you around 48 hours before the session start time. Payment by bank card or PayPal is accepted. A session wont take place if payment has not been made in time.
Conversations that take place in counselling sessions are treated with a high degree of sensitivity and never shared in a public setting (unless the client has strictly allowed their story - or elements of it - to be used in a case study for instance).
Our work is though routinely discussed with our professional supervisor, who is a senior and experienced counsellor that helps us develop our skills alongside helping keep clients safe, and who also treats the information with extreme care.
A rare but important reason that client information might be shared elsewhere is when the therapist believes that the client (or someone else), could be at risk of serious and/or imminent harm. In this case the clients doctor, the police or a mental health team may be informed.
To keep clients safe, therapists (me included) should have adequate training to practise (I hold a diploma in therapeutic counselling), have regular (monthly) supervision from a qualified senior counsellor, be insured to carry out client work, and ideally be registered with a professional regulatory association. I comply with all of the above.
Therapists that do private work and handle client information also need to be registered with the ICO (Informtion Commissioners Office) and adhere to their data protection rules, which I also do.
To get started, or to just ask me any questions that you may have, message me using the form on the contact page, or email me directly at dave@therapydave.co.uk
