Bernadette Havenga

I am available to take clients weekdays, evenings and on Saturdays.

Hi, I’m Bernadette. I am an Accredited Member of the BACP with 8 years’ experience working as a counsellor for an NHS IAPT service, mainly working with clients suffering from depression and anxiety. I previously worked with Cruse Bereavement Service, during which time I trained to therapeutically work with adults and children who have experienced loss and grief. I also gained invaluable experience working with the YMCA counselling teenagers and young people.

 I practised as a registered nurse, school nurse and registered midwife before training as a counsellor.  I believe that my nursing and midwifery background consolidated my desire to pursue a career in counselling. Lastly, I believe that the combination of my life experience, maturity, wisdom, resilience and courage that I have acquired over the last five decades inspires a well-rounded and holistic approach to my clients.

I am a qualified CfD Practitioner (BACP accredited in Person-Centred Experiential Counselling for Depression) and this approach is very effective with clients experiencing depression. 

I will help you get to the core of your difficulties while benefitting from a good therapeutic relationship.

I offer private counselling from my home, right in the centre of Wells, Somerset. I also offer online and telephone counselling to suit individual needs and preferences.

I hold an up-to-date DBS and indemnity insurance.

While my core model working as a counsellor is Person-Centred, I work within an integrative approach whereby I tailor my wealth of skills around the client and their specific needs and current difficulties.

I will follow your lead in an inviting and unforced manner, promoting your freedom to choose what you would like to bring without assuming the role of the expert and directing the session. I will respond in a way which reassures that you are being heard and understood.  I will convey unconditional acceptance of what you bring to each session without judgement or criticism.

I can help you to focus your attention inwards to internal sensations, enabling you to express emotions you may not have been able to identify or express before, providing a safe space to do so, and thereby, supporting you to become more in tune with your true self.

Part of the work might involve you finding internal resources for changes in thinking and acting, and making the changes that you have decided on.

Part of the work might involve considering what you are thinking, feeling, and doing (or not doing), and how thoughts, emotions, and behaviour all interact together.

In our first session, we will be working through an assessment to help me identify your presenting issues and to assess whether counselling is the appropriate way forward to meeting your needs. The assessment will take approximately  30  minutes and can be done face to face, online, or by phone, whichever is most suitable for you. There is no charge for the assessment.