Karen Davison

Please contact me to discuss if any appointments that I have available might meet your needs.

I am an UKCP registered psychotherapist with extensive experience of working with mental health, trauma, family, relationship & work place issues with over 30 years experience of working in psychological therapies (20 years within the NHS). Trained & experienced in a range of therapeutic approaches, I am able to think with you about your difficulties and issues from different perspectives and offer therapeutic interventions based on your individual needs and clinical evidence.

Skilled in working with a range of psychological, emotional, health, work and relationship issues, I am comfortable working with psychologically and emotionally vulnerable people, my professional responsibility having included 17 years as a senior clinician.

I have extensive experience of working with people following a range of traumatic incidents and have managed and provided psychological therapies following traumatic incidents in the UK and overseas.

Skilled & experienced in working with workplace issues, including stress, trauma & bullying, I have been regularly called upon by clinical & other organisations, including government agencies & the probation service. In this capacity, I have worked with employees with a wide range of roles & responsibilities including senior management, as well as providing high quality bespoke training, consultancy & psychological services.

People from all walks of life come to see me for many different reasons.

You may be seeking therapy or counselling because you have a problem or issue, whether current or in the past, which you need help in resolving and understanding.

You may have issues connected with relationships, work, mental or physical health, anxiety, depression, loss or bereavement, life changes, trauma or self esteem and identity.

You may be in crisis or you may simply wish to explore some aspect of your experience more deeply.

Whatever brings you to therapy, it is a positive and courageous decision to invest in your future well being.

Psychotherapy, CBT and counselling are all shared undertakings which aim to make sense of your experience. I will provide is a safe and confidential space in which you can be heard, explore and reflect on how you feel, think and live. Together we will work towards a deep understanding of your experience and the challenges you face, exploring how you relate to yourself and the people in your life, the choices that you make and the meanings that you ascribe to your world.

Therapy is an opportunity to reflect upon the decisions you are making and the possibilities which may lie ahead, to challenge your feelings and the assumptions you make and gain some clarity about where you are, where you want to be and how you are going to get there.

The initial consultation provides an opportunity to meet and explore the issues that have lead you to seek help, how these issues impact on your life, your expectations and whether the services I offer can help you.

My aim in this first session is to gain not only an understanding of the issue or issues that you wish to address but a sense of what part these play in your life as a whole. We will assess how you have coped with these issues in the past, your physical, psychological and emotional resources, your responsibilities, the support available to you and your hopes for the future.

This initial meeting offers us both an opportunity to see how we work together. This is a two way process. It is essential that you have confidence in your psychotherapist, if you are to get the most out of your sessions. If I think that the services I offer cannot provide the help you need, time will be given to explaining the reasons and alternatives will be suggested wherever possible. If we decide to proceed together, arrangements for future appointments will be agreed during the initial consultation

If you decide the services I offer will meet your needs, I will give you a statement of understanding. This is a written agreement which includes practical arrangements such as timing and frequency of sessions, fees, payment arrangements, confidentiality etc. I will also at this point ask you to give consent for me to keep written confidential records of our sessions. These notes help me to reflect between sessions on the work that we are doing together and provide a record of the work that we do together. I comply with the Data Protection Act; all records are kept in a locked filing cabinet and confidentially shredded by me after 7 years.

I am currently taking new supervisees