Space to Authentically Connect and Create Change
A warm welcome to my website and to exploring the possibility of counselling with me.
I'm Naomi, a person-centred counsellor and being authentic is at the heart of my work. My website aims to reflect the person you will meet at an initial assessment session to help you consider if I’m the right counsellor for you at this time.
Finding the right counsellor for you can be empowering, but it’s not always easy to know where to start in finding someone that you feel safe and connect with, and fits your available time and resources.
About Me
I’ve always been interested in how healing it is to connect with ourselves, others and the world around us. I began working in the legal and charity sectors supporting clients and causes that come together to make a positive difference. I was led into training as a therapist through this background and my desire to offer space and time for people to explore their own connection to their authentic self and the world around them. I still work in the charity sector alongside my therapy practice and this keeps me connected to my core values and others who are working hard to support people’s needs across communities.
Qualification
I have a BA (Hons) in Person-Centred Counselling & Psychotherapy from the University of Warwick. This is a BACP accredited degree, and I am a registered member of the BACP, working to their Ethical Framework.
My training was academic and experiential meaning that as well as studying theory and research, I had to experience being a client through counselling work with my peers, group encounter work, and also in personal therapy outside of the course. I had to reflect on and share with others the impact this had on me – This training established an important foundation from which to safely hold a safe and boundaried space for others to experience therapy.
Lifelong Learning
Continuing Professional Development is an important requirement of the BACP meaning that I continue adding to my knowledge and understanding of others’ experiences, what I can offer them in the counselling room, as well as sign-posting to what might be interesting or supportive to them outside of our sessions.
CPD also helps me follow up my ongoing commitment to examine my values, privileges and attitudes. This supports me in my aim to stand alongside clients rather than being part of the structures and systems that may be causing distress.
Click here to see some of the courses I have undertaken to give you a flavour of my continued learning:
- Level 1 Certificate in Person-Centred Expressive Arts Therapy – Creative Connections Cumbria
- Person-Centred Expressive Arts Therapy: The Wisdom of the Body
- Moving Towards Physical & Mental Health: those suffering with Eating Disorders
- Safeline Domestic Abuse Recognising & Responding Training
- Psychotherapists & Counsellors for Social Responsibility Psychotherapy & Politics Conference
- Working with Suicidal Clients and the impact of Suicide
- Human Relationships in the Digital Era
- Mental Health & The Body: Treating Trauma by Carolyn Spring
- Working Alongside Trans, Non-Binary & Questioning Clients
- Person-Centred Association Conference on Queerness in the Person-Centred Approach
- The Subtle Power of Toxic Relationships
- Introduction to the Nervous System
- Relational Needs & Attachment Patterns
- Yoga Therapy Introduction
- Collision of Trauma & Menopause
- Understanding Mother Daughter Attachment
- Everything to Know About ADHD Medication But Were Too Afraid to Ask
Offering a Safe Space
It is a privilege to be trusted by clients to work with them and the foundation of my work is to provide a space where clients feel safe to explore what is going on for them. This gives an opportunity for validation, acceptance and to feel empowered in making choices, however big or small, for how to make your way through life or to manage what is going on for you in the here and now.
Offering Empathy
What is your experience? I may see clients bringing similar issues or themes they are struggling with, but each person’s experience of that will be unique to them. I’ll be curious with you about what you think and feel about what’s going on for you.
Offering Unconditional Positive Regard
The world is full of judgements; those placed on us by others, society, ourselves. It’s part of how we make sense of the world but they can restrict or crowd out our own thoughts and feelings. I aim to provide space for you to be curious about own experience without needing to have all the answers or feel inhibited by judgements.
Offering Congruence
As I get to understand more of your experience with you, I may notice recurring themes or things that don't always appear to connect or sit comfortably with you. It is my aim to be authentic and open in being curious with you about these observations if I feel they may be helpful to you, always with the option for you to reject them if they don’t match your own experience.
Offering a Non-directive Approach
I believe you are the expert on yourself. I will be alongside you in exploring your experiences and what meaning you may find in the thoughts, emotions and behaviours that come up for you along the way. I may offer suggestions from time-to-time if I have some knowledge that could be helpful to you, but I will not advise you or take away your power to choose what fits with your experience. I won’t diagnose or label you, but be interested in your own experience of any diagnoses or labels that you have been given and how they may or may not feel helpful to you.
Working with Creativity
I believe we interact and adapt creatively to others and the world around us. The therapeutic relationship in counselling is another way of being collaborative and creative. As well as exploring experience through words, I also offer space for clients to express themselves with other creative tools such as using metaphors, objects, drawing materials, sounds or movement. This process can help access knowledge and insights held in other parts of your mind and body that you may not use as regularly in day to day life.
Being Part of Social Justice
We are connected to the world around us including other people, places, cultures, species, nature, and societal structures. I recognise that we do not always have choice in these connections and this is important to acknowledge in counselling. I aim to make space to recognise the context that clients live in and respect how this is for them.
Being Trauma Informed
I approach thoughts, emotions and behaviours that may arise from past or current traumas as valid and understandable responses or coping mechanisms. Whilst there may be common responses to trauma, there can be wide variety amongst clients based on the combination of the events they have experienced and the environments in which they live. I won’t presume to know your experience or be seeking to diagnose or fix you. Instead I aim to provide a supported space, long-term if needed, to find your own ways of coming to terms with current and/or past traumas at your own pace.
What Issues Can Counselling Help With?
People come to me for help a wide range of issues. Here are a few of the more common difficulties that can be supported through counselling:
Family and relationship issues,
Grief, loss or bereavement,
Trauma and post-traumatic stress,
Abuse,
Identity,
Depression,
Low-self esteem,
Stress or anxiety,
Self-harm.
My Location
I work from private offices located in Oxford and Abingdon, welcoming clients from the city and surrounding areas. My practice spaces are based at The Source, 1 Floyds Row, Oxford, OX1 1SS, and Coxeter House, 21–27 Ock Street, Abingdon, OX14 4AJ.
In addition to face-to-face therapy, I also offer online sessions via Zoom, making counselling accessible to clients across Oxfordshire, and further afield in the UK.
Fees & Availability
Counselling is a valuable commitment to yourself. My current rates are set out below and are kept under review to balance the need to be accessible for clients, but also to be sustainable by covering overheads including room hire, ongoing professional training and supervision requirements.
More questions? We can have an initial 15 minute call for you to connect my name with a voice and ask a few questions, discuss availability and get a feel for whether you’d like to work with me.
Initial assessment session of 50-60 minutes – this is the chance to share a bit more of your current situation, what you are looking to achieve in counselling, hear more about how I work and whether I have the right style and experience for you. Some clients find this session is a helpful opportunity to be heard and then make an informed choice about the support they need, even if we find we are not the right fit to work together. There is no obligation to book any further sessions.
You may not know what time, financial resources and energy you can commit to ongoing therapy, or how long you may find counselling helpful. We can agree a fixed number of 50 minute sessions that gives you the opportunity of having a start and end point to work to. For some clients that is sufficient and they may or may not come back to me or another counsellor at a later date to do some further work. Other clients decide to continue on for a further fixed number of sessions or to move to more open-ended work.
You may not want to put a time-limit on how long you may find counselling helpful, or you may feel it will take longer to establish a feeling of trust and safety, or to work on more deep-rooted experiences. There is the option that our sessions can be booked in an open-ended way, checking in a various points that the counselling is still offering you what you need. For some clients this can be several months, or years.
Some other aspects you may like to consider in how we work together:
I would usually recommend weekly sessions, at least initially, in order to establish a therapeutic relationship and to allow yourself this regular space to explore what is going on for you. However there can be therapeutic or practical reasons why fortnightly sessions may be the preferred option for clients and we can discuss what is possible and most helpful during our initial session.
I offer both in-person and online counselling to clients within the UK. We usually agree a preferred method for our sessions at the outset and work in this way, but there may be occasions where circumstances mean that we need to be flexible in our approach and we discuss moving from in-person to online and vice versa for some or all of our sessions. You can let me know you preference when making initial contact.
A proportion of my scheduled appointments are available at a discounted rate if cost is a barrier. These spaces are in demand and priority is usually given to those on low income and those from marginalised groups in society.
If you have concerns about affordability in the short or longer-term please mention this during our initial conversation or assessment session so that we can see if there scope for any adjustments based on my current workload.
If it is possible to add any extra to the standard rate fee, this is welcomed to help fund low cost sessions to others who are struggling to access regular therapy. Please let me know if you are able to offer a pay-it-forward fee.
How to Connect with Me
Hopefully you’ll find enough information here to give you an idea of whether I am the counsellor for you. If you’re interested in an initial conversation or to book in an assessment session please get in touch by completing the enquiry form.
Get in Touch
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how counselling works, or to arrange an initial assessment appointment. This enables us to discuss the reasons you are thinking of coming to counselling, whether it could be helpful for you and whether I am the right therapist to help.
Please let me know if you have a preference of in-person location or for online work when enquiring.
