Gary Aldridge

I am only seeing clients face to face on Wednesday evening and Friday. More flexibility is available online. This can be discussed at the initial consultation.

I offer online sessions on Tuesday & Thursday only right now. Please don't hesitate to contact me about availability, as i have more flexibility when offering online sessions. 

Contacting me and getting started:

On initial contact with me, I will respond within 24hrs to offer you a free telephone 15–20-minute consultation session, where we can discuss the process of counselling and your current needs. My experience has shown me that this is the most beneficial way to establish contact, as it allows you the opportunity to

If you are reading this, then there is every chance that you are seeking counselling for yourself or someone close to you. It might be that you want to change your life and you are looking for someone to help you do that.

I am trained in three main modalities.

Therapeutic counselling. Therapeutic counselling is a psychological approach that focuses on helping individuals learn skills, techniques to help cope, whilst make improvements in their own lives. Therapeutic counselling uses an integrated approach for improving psychological well-being by helping individuals understand their actions and how to resolve them.

Addiction counselling. Addiction Counselling is a highly specialised form of counselling that views serious and problematic use of a substance or behaviour as far more serious as it being simply a symptom of underlying issues. The goal of an addiction counsellor is to implement a proper and personalized treatment program, to help their clients overcome their addiction.

Trauma focussed therapy. Trauma-Focused Therapy is a specific approach to therapy that recognizes, emphasizes, and understands how the traumatic experience affects a client’s mental, behavioural, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

At some stages in our lives, many of us can experience anxiety, depression, stress, relationships troubles, loneliness, addiction, terminal illness, bereavement and los. You are not alone. Counselling and Psychotherapy can help you manage and overcome many of these issues.

You may be asking what makes me different from a lot of other therapists?

I have a specialised interest in the subjects of Addictions, PTSD & Trauma, Anxiety and Relationships. This has meant that a focus of my work and training, has been aimed at these areas. I am also a lived experience practitioner of addiction (I am in recovery myself), that gives me a unique insight to this area. 

My background as a counsellor, comes from working within the field of mental health and addiction where I did my training. I have been a manager of a rehab centre within Hertfordshire for the last two years. I have worked in health and social care for over 14 years now working with a wide range of diverse clients from this. I have strong links within Hertfordshire and the UK to help refer anyone in need of more intensive addiction or trauma support, this includes families.

I worked as part of a pilot project with the NHS to provide twelve funded sessions for those affected by domestic violence and sexual assault. This has led me to further my training in this area. I am now have studying a NVQ Level 6 in Trauma Focused Therapy which will be completed in 2024, with further training to be started in 2024 as I continue to specialise within this subject.

In 2021 I become a college lecturer at West Herts College, teaching counselling diplomas, for anyone interested or starting to consider studying to become a counsellor. Please see West Herts College for further information on courses.

When not teaching or practising as a therapist, you will find me running half marathon or scuba diving…!!!

I offer an initial telephone or video consultation, where we will be able to discuss working with each other. Following on from this, if you decide to work with me the first session will be an assessment session, allowing me to find out more about your background, or to discuss the issues that you're having presently in more details.

The assessment session will be for 50mins. Before the first session, will send you some paperwork, which covers my contract, GDPR requirements and some frequently asked questions, for those who are entering therapy for the first time.