Welcome to my Mid Sussex Counselling Practice
Thank you for visiting my website. I am an experienced accredited counsellor based in Burgess Hill, well located for Haywards Heath, Hassocks and the surrounding villages. I run my practice from my consultancy room in a quiet, peaceful area with its own parking; I also offer zoom and appointments.
I work with individuals from the age of 21 upwards.
After reading further, if you have any questions, or to arrange an initial appointment, please contact me by phone on 07851 732 134 or by email.
Do have a look at the headings at the top of this page, and if any are of interest to you, just click on them to move around the various pages of my website.
If you are new to counselling and would like a free half hour telephone consultation, please click here to arrange this.
I currently work on Tuesday afternoons, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 6pm.
What I do
My therapist training is integrative, which means I draw from a number of counselling models, adapting my approach to best fit each individual. I find that many people are looking for support with change, relationship difficulties, anxiety, low mood, depression, loss and bereavement, lack of confidence and low self worth.
My counselling practice is broad; areas of my experience include, though are not confined to:
- Alcohol dependency
- Anxiety
- Bereavement and loss
- Confidence
- Depression
- Difference
- Compulsive overeating issues
- Isolation
- Lack of life fulfillment and meaning
- Low mood, negativity
- Relationship difficulties; I currently do not offer couples counselling
- Self esteem issues
- Stress
- Workplace issues
What I Do - A Closer Look
Certainty makes us feel safe and secure. Change on the other hand involves making choices which we can find disturbing, and often there is an over-attachment to old familiar types of emotions, habits and and mindsets that keep people feeling stuck and powerless. We can find ourselves holding onto ways of thinking and behaving that no longer serve us. The work often involves helping people disentangle themselves from these patterns, gain awareness and insight into their world and their reactions to it, creating a more flexible, emotionally grounded and resilient response to life that helps generate wellbeing and healthy positive change.
Anxiety is a common issue that people bring to counselling. My approach includes looking at the purpose of anxiety - an integral part of what it is to be human, and tailoring ways to manage it according to each individual.
I see depression as a kind of withdrawal from the full flow of life, often during a time of vulnerability, and the work includes gradually exploring ways to strengthen the internal resources needed to eventually rejoin that flow once more. At times, some people, in collaboration with their GP, take anti-depressant medication to enable them to function at a reasonable level.
One area of change common to us all is sickness, death and loss of the loved. I held a voluntary post as a bereavement and patient counsellor at a local hospice for six years. When a loved one dies, our world can feel alien and lacking in purpose, as though we don't belong any more. Grief is a very individual experience and can be extremely painful; part of the work of therapy often is to reassure and validate what is happening; also to give support as people gradually take steps to reintegrate themselves into the mainstream of life again. In my experience people often feel a fuller impact of their loss once the practical tasks are done, and they have the time and space to really feel what it means to be without their loved one.
Some people are seeking support with something they can't stop doing that is negatively impacting their quality of life. For two years I worked with people with drug and alcohol difficulties based at a GP surgery. By far, alcohol was the most common drug of choice, and the majority of people suffering from this dependency worked and functioned well on the surface, keeping their difficult attachment to alcohol fairly well hidden. At times, family members, affected by their loved one's struggles, seek counselling too.
Is Counselling for you?
The fact that you are looking through a Counselling website suggests you are experiencing some kind of difficulty in your life at the moment. Perhaps your dis-ease is hard to define; or maybe you are reacting to specific events. Relationships, getting along with others can sometimes be challenging, and stress, anxiety and depression are frequent reasons why people seek therapy. Some questions that people often ask at the enquiry stage are to be found on the Fees and Other Questions page.
There are so many different schools of therapy out there. You will find plenty of information about this online. It is also important to pay attention to the feelings that arise in you when searching for and making contact with counsellors, as the relationship between the two of you is a central ingredient in a successful outcome.
For those of you who are completely new to counselling, I suggest you view it as good housekeeping for your life, a support for a period of time. Sessions are highly confidential, the relationship between counsellor and client is private and professional, and when the work is done, the relationship ends. Please consider whether now is the right time for you to start counselling. Realistically, do you have the time, money and appetite required to commit to regular weekly therapy, or is therapy going to be yet one more thing that you have to squeeze into your busy week? Accessing counselling at the wrong time can feel like a burden and hold you back from a successful outcome.
You may find it useful to have a look at accessible on-line organisations and websites offering information and support displayed on the Useful Links page. For example, there is Grandparents Plus, www.grandparentsplus.org.uk, a charitable organisation providing advice and support to kinship carers. Kinship care refers to situations where a relative or friend steps in to raise a child; about half of those carers are grandparents. Experienced advisers help kinship carers with their questions on benefits, employment, housing, education, grand applications, and they also offer a compassionate listening ear.
If you find you have a lot of unstructured time on your hands, and feel the need for some extra focus and purpose to your day, you may like to visit your local Citizens Advice Bureau, www.citizensadvice.org.uk. This service, as well as helping people resolve their legal, money and other problems, also has a wide list of organisations in your area looking for volunteers to support their good work.
Mid Sussex Area - Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath
I work with clients face to face in my consultancy room, and since the pandemic I now also offers appointments on zoom.
My Burgess Hill located counselling practice has good rail, bus and road links to surrounding Mid Sussex towns and villages. If you are seeking counselling and based in Haywards Heath for example, Burgess Hill is a few minutes drive away, and there is private parking. Haywards Heath is one train stop from Wivelsfield station, two train stops from Burgess Hill station, both of which are walking distance from my therapy room, and there is a convenient local bus service. Other towns with good road and public transport links include places such as Balcombe, Chailey, Cuckfield, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and Lindfield.
