Pat Bond MBACP (Accred)
Counselling training for me came after quite an interesting mixture of life and faith experiences, including an academic background and diagnostic work in science, missionary training college, and science-based work in the Middle East, in post-riot Liverpool in the ‘80s, and in Newcastle.
My childhood experiences of ill health and hospitals left me with a lasting interest in developmental trauma and that has been the focus of much of my post-qualification counselling training and research.
For me, the body, mind and spirit are strongly interconnected. My Christian faith informs my practice while I keep a boundary between counselling and spiritual direction.
I have been counselling for 20 years in different settings, ‘sacred’ and secular, and aim less to provide a cure than to enable clients to find their own unique path to healing and wholeness.
I am a registered accredited member of the Association of Christians in Counselling and Linked Professions, a body accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Susan Mayfield MBACP (Accred) | Diploma Psychodynamic Counselling |Foundation Degree Psychodynamic Counselling | BA (Hons) English Literature
I offer short and long term counselling to individuals aged 16+ and couples.
Primarily counselling is a confidential space where things that are causing difficulty or distress can be spoken about safely and without judgement.
My approach is psychodynamic, looking at the bigger picture and exploring how difficulties in the here-and-now may have been affected by past experiences and family history. Becoming aware of unconscious patterns and connections in how we feel or behave can empower us to make changes and live in a more authentic and fulfilled way.
I have particular experience of working with bereavement, loss relationship issues and childhood sexual abuse.
I can also offer writing therapy – using expressive writing to gain self-understanding or to promote self-care. This creative approach can be an alternative to talking therapy or an integrated element of it – helping people to find words for their experience.
Helen Swann | MBACP (Accred), Fda Counselling, NCA Bereavement Support Supervision
My core training is in person centred therapy which is built on the belief that we all have the capacity to heal and grow given the right conditions. I will provide those conditions and also encourage you to explore your thoughts and feelings with gentle challenge. I will reflect my observations of what I see and hear with the aim of opening up a wider perspective. This experience of putting our thoughts into words can help understand our feelings and behaviours, bringing them into conscious awareness and therefore providing choice and options that may have been previously hidden. I have particular experience in working with bereavement and loss.