Tessa Kennedy

I’m happy to be flexible however I generally work from 2pm until last appointment being approximately 7:30 five days a week. If weekends are the only possibility I do occasionally accommodate clients who have limited availability  

 Due to shift and childcare demands upon clients I am able to begin in time for a client being able to attend to childcare or work commitments. 

I’m currently working remotely, WhatsApp, zoom and so forth. 

I offer concessions in particular to trainers, clients who are in a restricted income zone. 

I’m frequently available for out of hours or crisis situations. 

I largely work in  relational therapy. I use Brief Solution model within my practice. 

From the three main traditions of therapeutic models I’m squarely planted in the third, being humanist  my core model is Person Centred and my heart belongs to these ideas, they are my constant inspiration and motivation.

I am a senior psychotherapist qualified in 2002. 

I spent 18yrs as an adoption counsellor. Including adult adoptees, birth families and adoptive families. 

I have a wide range of experiences. 

I enjoy working at depth with all of my clients however always at my clients pace. 

I mainly work long term but I have no reservations about working short term. 

I’m highly qualified and experienced in working with Trauma. Trauma of all kinds, medical trauma, childhood trauma, accumulative trauma and recognising the trauma of having been in a narcissistic relationship. Including a narcissistic parent. 

Being love bombed, gaslighting and so on. Please contact me for any questions at all. I’m more than happy to spend time for you to gain a sense of wether I may be experienced in the area you are currently focusing upon.

If you wish to have a discussion, an exploration of wether you feel I’m someone you feel comfortable that you could develop a helping relationship with then I do also do this. Many clients after a telephone call make a decision to get started. However, that may not be the way you make decisions. 

I might also say I’m adaptable, flexible and creative. 

Though I have a dedicated counselling room, since the pandemic I have been working remotely, via video mainly. WhatsApp, zoom, google team chat. Though I’m open to any technology to aid a meeting. 

What to expect from me: so difficult to articulate. I’m going to try and imagine what a client might say about me. 

I’m a strong solid person with great warmth towards the human mind body and spirit. 

I am vastly experienced and knowledgeable as I had a very different life before training as a therapist in 1999. I can ‘hold’ a client through the worst of times, wether it’s relationship breakdowns or bereavement. Trauma of any kind, and work effectively. I’m able to help with self harm and intrusive thoughts. I work with sensitivity around any and all clients potential issues. Including pet loss. 

I’m a great believer that we as humans can live a better and healthier life. We can not eradicate our traumas however we can shift them so they begin to feel more or perhaps less like we are living in a continuous hyper vigilance. I have done quite a lot of neuroscience, certainly enough for me to help a client understand it, and take back their power. 

I’m very much interested in every human owning their power, that could be the ability to ‘voice’ be visible, be seen as a person of great value. 

I work across all cultures, races, gender identities and sexualities.  I trained in a multi cultural environment in north London where I also lived, prior to moving to this area in 2004. Of course as I work remotely it means a client don’t have to live near me. 

Much of living is about loss, wether loss of being able to use opportunities, loss through death, loss of what could have been    

For example; adopters have lost the sense of their child and it’s grieved so they can reopen their heart to a child not born to them. loss of fertility, 

• There really isn’t the space to speak of all that I could, I hope I have spoken about me for you to gain an insight into what I’m about…
  

potential to offer face to face 

From my first contact most frequently by phone, I may offer a free session or a reduced rate  or again that might happen when I first meet with you  

Within my first session I do ask basic questions, also I do ask for a family tree, helped by me. Also, if this feels appropriate for the particular client, I would ask about their more personal experiences of trauma. I ask questions that are only for the benefit of gaining a good understanding of the person I’m here to help therefore learn about. I have found in the over 20 years of practice and experience that this had always been helpful. Even helping a client remember some of their own experiences that have been long buried. 

Client are not expected at all to answer and question they don’t wish to. Many many clients are unable to say why they are coming. And that’s absolutely accepted. Pace and it being right for the clients is my main concern.

I am not judgemental on any level. I’m accepting and feeling warmth to clients I work with. I am a vocational therapist, it is a passion, as we as humans are frequently searching for our own truth and a desire to become more authentic so we feel more empowered, as equals in a world that doesn’t necessarily treat each of us as equal  

I’m deeply empathic and it seems it’s deeply embedded within me. Though I was always empathic, my empathy has grown deeper after years of practice. 

My sessions last 60mins. That is my responsibility, to keep time and help end a session feeling set to get on with whatever a client needs to do next.