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What is Counselling?

Counselling is not about giving advice and does not necessarily provide quick and easy answers. Counselling is based on listening and enabling you to make sense of the difficulties you may be experiencing. It provides an opportunity to talk in confidence with a person outside your situation. Counselling allows space for you to explore thoughts and feelings and, most importantly, provides time for you to concentrate on your needs.

Margaret is a qualified counsellor.  She started her training in 2006 and graduated with a diploma in 2009.  She has worked as a volunteer counsellor since 2008, first in Scotland and lately in Lancaster.  She also completed the Cruse Bereavement training course and works as a volunteer with Craven and Bradford District. Margaret is a member of BCAP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy) and is bound by its Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling.  She is fully insured and has regular ongoing supervision as required within the counselling profession.

Margaret’s approach to Counselling:

It’s all about you, what you want to talk about and what you need to explore.  My focus is on you as I listen with my heart as well as my ears.  As your counsellor I will listen, paraphrase, reflect back, ask questions to clarify an issue, and sometimes bring a challenge.  As you talk you place your issues outside of yourself enabling you to see them in a new light.  This is done in a safe place where everything you say is completely confidential.  I aim to create an environment where you will feel safe, understood, accepted and valued, where you will know that you are not being judged  or criticised - a therapeutic space where you can explore your thoughts and feelings.  Sometimes the feelings we are having now have their roots in our past, and by acknowledging these feelings and the circumstances surrounding them, we can find freedom from old patterns of being. We can free ourselves from thought processes that keep us trapped in unhealthy thinking about ourselves.  As we change the way we think  through counselling we can arrive at a place where we are free to be who we are and feel comfortable with ourselves.

Initial Session:

The initial session is to enable you to meet me and determine whether you feel comfortable with me and that what I am offering is suitable for your needs. It is also the time I will assess your needs and my ability to work with you. There is no obligation on either side to continue further if we decide this is not for you at this time.

Margaret’s Training:

She is a qualified Counsellor with a Diploma in Christian Counselling (an integrated Christian Counselling Model, a dialogue between Person Centred and Psychodynamic counselling.) accredited by COSCA (Scotland's professional body for counselling and psychotherapy)
2010— 2011:- Cruse Bereavement Care foundation course. Now currently working as a Bereavement volunteer with Cruse in Craven and Bradford.
She has attended various workshop days learning how to use creative techniques in counselling including Sand tray work.
She is currently undertaking training with ‘Deep Release’ where she is learning how to work with the inner child, with therapeutic touch and holding, duvet work, dealing with anger and other creative techniques for use in counselling.
She has to date completed - Deep Release Principles and Practice levels 1 and 2 Deep Release training: Attachment Theory and working with the inner child level 1 & 2.

Fees and Appointments:

Initial assessment appointment (one hour) £35
First session reduced to £20 when further sessions are booked.
Ongoing Sessions (50 minutes) £35
Rates are negotiable in cases of genuine hardship. Or for long term work.
To cancel an appointment, 48 hours notice is required, or the full fee will be charged.
For further details see: www.listeningheart.co.uk
Or Phone: 07503 532602 Or E-mail: listeningheart@btinternet.com