Andrew Norman

I meet with clients in my own counselling room in Sidmouth which is comfortable, quiet, easy to find and has plenty of parking space. 

If it is easier I am able to make home visits.

I also work with clients online with Zoom. That might make it possible for you to fit counselling sessions into the time you have available, and without having to travel wherever you are in the UK. 

I see clients on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from early morning until early evening.

I am also able to offer counselling in the form of a quiet hour’s walk along a local path by the river.

I believe in making counselling as accessible as possible. So my standard rate is £45 per session, but with a sliding scale of lower rates for those in need of them, and £30 per session for students and trainee counsellors. 

How to make sense of my life?

Therapy is “mainly a matter of the mutual exploration of emerging meanings”*. I aim to accompany clients and offer resourceful and intuitive support on that journey. I will want to connect with you in what you need. This is the proven way for good personal changes to be possible. So I offer a free initial assessment session to see if we can have that client-counsellor connection.

As a qualified therapist I aim to be professional and competent, warm and reliable. I value working with all sorts of people, young and old, women and often with men.

However you are I will want to support you in being true to yourself, being the same in myself; non-judgemental, positively affirming you as you are; and with empathy in what it's like to be you.

But you will want to know if I can help with what's troubling you. My capabilities lie in the areas of anxiety and anger, traumatic experience, relationships, families, loss and bereavement, , conflict and confusion, life-changes, inner despair, loneliness, low self-esteem and self-criticism, telling and re-telling the story of your life. 

* Hobson, R F 1985 'Forms of Feeling: the Heart of Psychotherapy'. Routledge. London

My therapeutic method is Humanistic. I try to avoid therapy jargon. But in practical terms I will support you to: 

• stay in touch with yourself: body, thoughts and feelings,
• be more aware and trustful of the deep goodness in you and your potential to live more fully,
• know and believe in your core values,
• listen to your internal messages to yourself,
• listen to the messages you have heard from others to yourself and internalised,
• recognise and be gentle with your vulnerabilities,
• understand and manage better your fight/ flight/ freeze response to stress and trauma,
• accept what you cannot change,
• but imagine what you might grow out of and into,
• learn to practice good ways to soothe and to nurture yourself,
• and be able to regularly check in with yourself.

See my website for more details of my therapeutic method.

Client testimonial from E VR, February 2021: “Andrew was a skilled, intelligent and very kind counsellor to me at a low point in my life. I consider myself very fortunate as I often found him leading me skilfully and professionally to find my own solutions and answers to my concerns and questions usually much to my surprise. This ability to guide me and yet show me that I was not always correct and as clear in my thinking and perceptions as I thought I was, always with a gentle smile, means that I trust Andrew absolutely. I always felt safe with him, from the first appointment."

"Andrew has excellent time management skills and I never felt rushed. The last session with him was positive and affirming with many good memories. He guided me to feel empowered again and to value myself.”

What will it be like?

I remember feeling quite nervous when I went to my own first  session of counselling as a new client. So I was grateful that my therapist welcomed me warmly, explained things clearly, and put me at my ease. I now try to do the same myself.

Our first session will be to identify what has prompted you to consider counselling, to see what you want the therapy to help with - and the right place for you to start.

We can discuss together and agree key matters such as confidentiality. These will include all the practicalities which will ensure that our sessions remain a safe space for you in line with the BACP Ethical Framework and the law relating to the protection of your data.

If you then decide that you would like to continue working with me we would agree on a helpful schedule. 

Talking to someone who really listens well is so simple but can be so helpful. It's how we are as human beings. We need to see ourselves holistically and through some of the veils that come to be there for each of us.

I hope that today might be the time for you to take a further step in that process.