Welcome to
Counselling with Louise
in Nottingham/Derby
Welcome and Hello
If you’ve landed here, it’s no accident, this is the beginning of a life-changing journey for you.
I am passionate about connecting with people.
I’d like to help you explore whatever difficulties you are facing and be alongside you as you restore your sense of self-belief and trust in who you are.
Whoever you are, and whatever you're going through, it is easier with someone alongside you.
The kinds of difficulties that I can help you with
- Processing grief through bereavement or loss
- Coping with life-limiting illness
- Anxiety and panic attacks
- Transitional life stages, including pregnancy, miscarriage, termination, motherhood, menopause, and retirement.
- Eating issues
- Dealing with anger
- Neurodiversity
- Improving self-esteem and self-worth
- Sexual abuse, incest and rape
- Domestic violence
- Trauma
- Personal therapy for students and therapists
- Coping with stress
- Coping with school/college/university
Speaking about our issues and the things we struggle with is often difficult to do and this can lead to us holding our feelings and experiences inside instead.
These might be things like hurts that have been carried with us for a long time, such as childhood experiences and family relationships, or it may also be new challenges that are beginning to show up, which are starting to affect day-to-day life, such as feelings, behaviours or beliefs that impact the way we see ourselves or the world around us.
It can be easier to believe that if we ignore the way we feel, it will just get better in time; however, problems that remain unprocessed often become more complex and interwoven into other areas of our lives.
Working together we will look at life, and talk about those difficult things in a safe, respectful, confidential, and supportive space.
My Approach
Counselling with a therapist is different from talking with friends and family, as counsellors are trained to offer an unbiased space that is free of judgment so that you can work through whatever is going on.
I work in a warm, empathetic, accepting manner. My approach is Person-Centred, which means that you are at the centre of everything. You choose what to bring to the session and together we will explore it, at a pace that is comfortable to you. I believe that we all have the power within us to change (if that is something that we want) and to grow to accept ourselves, through increased self-awareness, compassion and understanding.
Solution-Focused brief therapy
When appropriate I also use a short-term, goal-focused approach that emphasizes building solutions, by finding your strengths, resources and past successes to help you focus on positive change through utilising your own skills and knowledge.
Trust, exploration and acceptance
The first session alone can be a significant relief for you-often you have been storing up difficult feelings and worries for a long time, bravely battling on alone. Taking positive action by finding a counsellor, opening up and beginning to share difficult thoughts and feelings can immediately take some of the strength of these worries away.
You are not alone. At the heart of therapy is the belief that if you are cared for and truly heard, then you begin to feel, at a deep level, that you are worth caring for.
Process and Commitment
I usually recommend new clients to commit to weekly counselling sessions, but I know that this may be a challenge for some clients- financially and with time pressures, so I am happy to be flexible in this regard. Counselling can at times be difficult, as you go deeper into past hurts. I ask that you have patience and compassion for yourself as you process your feelings.
Once initial contact has been made, either by email or phone. I will send you a contract for you to read and sign. This includes information about the sessions, fees, confidentiality, holidays, cancellations and ethical practices.