Amanda | Psychotherapist and Counsellor MBACP (Accredited)

Counselling Rickmansworth

Hello, and a warm welcome to my profile page!

I hope you enjoy reading about my services, and if  you would like to book a free introductory telephone call with me, I would be delighted to hear from you. At my practice, I offer one-to-one and couples therapy, and family mediation sessions.

I offer sessions to adults of all ages, adolescents and children, and work with a whole range of issues, as highlighted throughout this page. I offer in-person and online sessions for adults, and in-person sessions for children.

About me

Since 2010 when I first began practicing as a counsellor, I have had the pleasure of working with a huge range of clients from various backgrounds and cultures, as well as clients across all age-groups.

I currently work with clients from all over the UK and also those from other countries around the world, including the Middle East, America, Columbia and Spain.

Regarding the wide range of age-groups that I have worked with over the years, my youngest client to date was a 3.5 year-old child, and my oldest client was a delightful gentleman in his mid-80's. 

At the beginning of my career as a counsellor, before going on to complete my Masters and becoming a psychotherapist, I spent 3 years supporting children and young adults within a youth counselling agency, during which time I began to build up my own private therapy practice at home.

I also worked voluntarily in a primary school, where I offered counselling sessions to children.  These sessions offered a combination of talk-therapy, play therapy and art therapy, which proved a fantastic way to help children to open up about their feelings.

As my career progressed and I moved purely in to private practice work, my client caseload consisted  (and still does consist) of adults of all ages, teenagers and primary school-aged children.

I am located in Loudwater, Rickmansworth (Hertfordshire), on a beautiful leafy road.  My therapy room is located at the front of the house, directly opposite a stunning, tranquil set of private woods. Clients often comment about how relaxing they find the location, and I have designed my therapy room in such a way that it is warm, welcoming and comfortable.

For clients who are not local to me, I am always happy to provide online or telephone therapy sessions, which I am told by clients prove equally as helpful and productive as in-person sessions.

My Training

I trained to become a counsellor with The Therapeutic Alliance Counselling Training (Harrow, Middlesex), which is run by two highly experienced senior practitioners. 

The duration of my training was just over four years, and gave me a very thorough grounding in Integrative Counselling. 

One of my tutors had been working as a private psychotherapist for over 2 decades, and was also a qualified neurologist.  My other tutor was running her own counselling practice and also worked as a clinical supervisor. 

The reason I chose to train integratively was because of the scope that it gives both the therapist and the client. 

Each and every one of us is unique and no one suit can fit all.  Thus, my integrative counsellor training introduced me to various therapeutic theories and modes of working with clients.  Some ways of working with clients are geared towards helping them explore unresolved childhood or past issues, whilst others might focus on more current difficulties, such as a separation, job-loss or bereavement.

My Masters Degree in Psychoanalysis C/S helped further my knowledge and understanding of the impact of the past on present-day well-being, and how the unconscious mind and our inner-child drive us to feel or behave in ways that leave us feeling down or dissatisfied with life.

This MA course enabled me to build on the experience I already had in working with clients on a long-term basis, furthering my knowledge of Freudian and Kleinian concepts, to assist me in helping clients explore more deep-rooted and often painful issues relating to childhood and relationships with parents.

My Theoretical Integration in Practice

I place importance on helping clients to understand the impact of their unconscious mental processes, and how bringing them in to conscious thought can create the opportunity to explore painful, unprocessed material within the safety of the therapy room, whilst also helping the client to decide how they might go about making positive changes to their life.

Our unconscious feelings and actions belong to our inner-child, and as humans we tend to create patterns of behaviour that we are sometimes not even aware we are doing, but are very aware that we feel unhappy none-the-less.

Exploring our unconscious processes, patterns, childhood events and relationships with significant others when we are growing up are therapeutic concepts that fall under what we call the 'psychodynamic' model.

Although the psychodynamic model underpins much of my work, I also incorporate humanistic concepts derived from Transactional Analysis (TA) and Gestalt in to my clinical work.

In simple terms TA, from a relational perspective, enables clients to explore how they may have come to assume the role of 'rescuer', for example, in relationships with others, and how this may be contributing to their sense of low mood or poor self-esteem as they struggle to constantly shoulder the problems of others. Or one might find themselves often feeling victimized, and exploring what lies behind this often proves useful in helping clients to cultivate healthier relationships with others.

The way that I incorporate elements of Gestalt in to my work is by helping clients to tackle painful 'unfinished business'. That is, important things that they would have liked to have said to someone (often a loved-one) but were for whatever reason unable to at the time. Becoming familiar with how the body somatizes (physically feels) emotions is also a valuable aspect of the Gestalt model that I incorporate in to my clinical work, to help clients become aware of when they are about to, for example, start becoming anxious.  
When working with primary-school age clients, the type of therapy sessions I offer depend on the needs and preference of the child.  Whilst many young clients benefit from sand-tray, art and play therapy, other children like to combine these methods of working with a portion of our session spent sitting and talking through their feelings and concerns.

ADHD & ASC (Autism Spectrum Condition)

At my practice,I offer 50-minute therapy sessions to people with diagnosed or undiagnosed ADHD and/or ASC.

I also offer a pre-assessment appointment for people who suspect they might have ADHD or ASC, and would like to explore this at depth with me.  This assessment takes between 60-90 minutes.

Although my findings at the end of the assessment would not provide the client with a formal diagnosis, as this requires intervention from a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist, the assessment that I offer is ideal for:-

- People who would like to have a professional opinion on whether or not their difficulties point towards ADHD or ASC, without necessarily wanting a formal diagnosis.

- People still deciding whether or not to go down the diagnostic route, who would like a professional opinion first before making the decision. (Please note that, only with a formal ADHD diagnosis would clients be able to access ADHD medication, and I am not qualified to formally diagnose nor prescribe medication).

- People who have been misdiagnosed in the past, and would like to have a professional report to take along with them to their GP, to strengthen their case and help them feel listened to when asking to be referred for a diagnostic ADHD or ASC assessment via the NHS.

For clients seeking a private diagnostic ADHD or ASC assessment, the report could be presented to the organisation ahead of the appointment date, and could help avoid further misdiagnoses.

Research shows that females in particular are often misdiagnosed with personality disorders, depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder when in fact they are presenting with symptoms of ADHD.

I have contacts for private associations offering reliable diagnostic ADHD or ASC assessments, who I can recommend to clients interested in seeking a formal diagnosis.

On the NHS, the patients' 'Right to Choose' scheme is designed so that patients can approach their GP to request a particular organisation to carry out their diagnostic ADHD assessment. I am able to offer advice on which organisation might suit you the best for your NHS assessment.

 

 

Bereavement: When People or Companion Animals Die

I have supported people of all ages struggling to cope with a whole range of losses. This includes the death of a friend, relative, acquaintance or a beloved companion animal. Whatever the surrounding circumstances, loss is processed differently from person to person and depends on many factors.

For  those who have lost an animal through natural causes, accident or euthanasia, or are considering having their pet euthanised, emotions associated with this can be overwhelming and yet often not talked about in society in general.  

In addition to clinical experience in supporting pet-owners, I have decades of personal experience with the loss of a beloved animal through euthanasia, natural causes or tragic accidents. I worked for two years on the Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service's helpline, supporting callers who had lost a companion animal or were considering euthanasia for them.  

Talking through their situation or loss helped them to feel less alone, validate their emotions, and supported them on their way to eventual acceptance of what they sadly could not change.  

If you are facing a similar situation and would prefer to talk face-to-face, making that call to arrange a counselling appointment with me could be the first step in working through your feelings.

Vegan and AR Trauma Support

As we move through the years, society is becoming much more aware of and concerned about the ethics surrounding animal agriculture and the welfare of animals used for meat, dairy or egg production. In a similar way, how to incorporate a more plant-based diet in to one's life for health-reasons is also being more widely embraced.

Although veganism is increasing globally year by year, ethical vegans whose lifestyle choices stem mainly from concerns surrounding animal-cruelty, they often experience negative responses from friends, family or others who either do not understand the reasoning behind the individual's lifestyle choice or feel emotionally indifferent to animal-suffering.

For vegans who like to actively campaign for the rights of animals there can be a subconscious trauma that they may be carrying as a result of bearing witness to animal-cruelty, or perhaps from watching undercover CCTV that captures distressing images.   

Counselling sessions can prove hugely supportive for vegan clients, as we unpick the individual's experiences together within the safe space of our sessions, and look at ways to incorporate important self-care in to clients' daily lives to prevent issues with depression or anxiety. 

If you would like to know more or book an appointment, please send me a message via the send a message - button.