Susan Marshall

I do not currently have space for new clients. You are welcome to get in touch if you would like me to update you on availability when this changes.

I have been in practice for over 20 years as a counsellor/therapist  working with a wide range of people and issues.I have a particular specialism in working with those who may be experiencing a crisis of meaning in their lives or who are faced with a new situation that may feel disorientating and confusing.

I am highly experienced in working with grief, loss, the impact of ill-health diagnoses for those with the diagnosis, and for those whose lives are touched by this, relationships, relationship conflict, divorce and workplace issues. 

You will have your reasons for looking for a therapist now.  Perhaps someone else has suggested you might want to try it. Whatever your intention now, it’s to be taken seriously, do remember it.  I will work with you to help you face the things that need to be faced, to enable you to ask meaningful questions of your life, and to help you tune into your answers. With kindness, a steady attitude, and an open manner, we will work to clarify what troubles you and unearth what your options may be. Even the most entrenched problems can be loosened to release enough space and movement that new vitality and perspective is possible. There are times in life when we become disorientated, grieving, lost, disillusioned - it is at these times we may come to re-evaluate our lives; to discover a reorientation and new understanding of our capacities and what living a good life means to us.  

 I have worked with a wide variety of people and issues in several settings such as a mental health charity, the NHS, private practice and in education. I worked in Higher Education for 17 years, providing clinical leadership for a University counselling, wellbeing and mental health service and leadership for a workplace counselling service.

I am trained in a number of therapeutic models, including humanistic, cognitive, and psychodynamic approaches. I adapt my approach to you and what you bring, but my core way of working now is as an existential therapist. What do I mean by this? Well, this approach essentially says that our problems are problems in living, not that there is some pathological flaw or disease. You may have heard the phrase 'existential crisis' to describe many of the events of recent years...

We live in a world of other people; others may be indifferent to us, be good to us or harm us, view us negatively, or positively -defining us in some way. We will also, no doubt, have our view on others and impact upon them.

​We were born into circumstances and cultures not of our choosing, we live through time and in the spaces we inhabit, we have a physical body and subject to the natural world, we know that every life ends but not how or when, we will encounter crises, and our stories will be made up of change, uncertainty, losses, loves, illnesses, accidents, dilemmas, limitations, opportunities, death. Political and social situations may feel in conflict with how we want to live, we may get caught up in systems or the sway of events and feel uneasy. We may know there are decisions to be made but can’t seem to make them, doubting ourselves, or others. We may worry over big questions about life, what it’s all about, that it seems meaningless or pointless, that what we once believed in somehow no longer rings true. Both crisis and boredom take their toll on us.

​Existential therapy works with and understands the human desire for significance or meaning-making, of encountering meaninglessness and futility, of making choices and living our values informed by our emotional experience.

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The first session gives us an opportunity to see if you feel comfortable talking with me and if my approach can be of benefit to you. We will talk about how counselling/therapy can be helpful to you in your life now, what is happening in your life and discuss a way forward. If for any reason, another approach may be more suitable for you, I can provide some guidance on this.