Claire Allerton

Hi, thank you for taking the time to read my profile while you decide on the best counsellor for you and what you need. I would like to help. My name is Claire and I am a dedicated, warm, ethical, caring, qualified and experienced counsellor. Making the decision to see a counsellor is a big step, especially if you haven't done anything like this before. I aim to make it as easy and comfortable for you as possible. I am often told that I have a calming presence and that people feel comfortable around me. You may be thinking about counselling to make changes, manage difficulties, or understand yourself or a challenging situation better. I have certainly had my own challenges - which I believe supports understanding of your difficulties or issues.

I take a personal approach, treating you as an individual; giving you my full attention (I limit the number of clients that I see each week to protect each client relationship). I will listen to you and with your consent draw on my training in one or all of the approaches to therapy that I have trained in - to help you find your understanding and make changes, or both. I have worked within addiction and mental health services for over twenty years, and more recently with younger people. I love what I do, I also volunteer within the local community.

You might be unsure about the different types of counselling and what is right for you and your circumstances? You may have already experienced or heard about ‘person centered’, ‘psychodynamic’ or ‘CBT’.

Broadly speaking, these are the three major approaches to counselling in the UK. These three approaches also have offshoots and sub-types within them.

I’m trained in all of these areas, and more - so we have lots of options open to us. We don’t need to rely on one approach to meet your needs - together we can decide on one or a combination of these approaches to help you get to where you need to be.

Person centered counselling can focus on developing your confidence and identifying your inner resources. What’s really good about this approach is that you might already know, deep down, what you need to do. Within a warm, caring, authentic, therapeutic relationship you can develop the self-confidence to tap into your own resources. Understanding and accepting you, while also being honest and real is what you can expect within this approach.

Psychodynamic (relationship counselling) centers on relationships, with yourself and others. The relationship that forms between us, in the sessions, can be really useful in helping you to understand what happens within your other relationships. A feature of this type of counselling is that I would ‘interpret’ the meaning behind what you say. You would develop insight and understanding into any difficulties you may be experiencing within your relationships.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you to understand the relationship between your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. In this type of counselling you would learn skills and strategies to manage, cope with and change problematic thinking styles.

Thinking about that first session can be quite daunting, I understand, as part of my training I’ve been through the counselling process too. Hopefully, after having an initial chat over the phone or videolink you will be looking forward to our first session. An initial chat (at no charge) would give you the chance to answer any questions you may have and decide if you would like to take things further. After this we would arrange a good time for you to have your first session, either over the phone, video link or in person – whichever is most comfortable and convenient for you.

During counselling I won’t push you into anything you are uncomfortable with, we would work at your own pace. Having said that, at times, the counselling process can feel uncomfortable – and this may be needed for you to achieve what you want from your sessions.

If you think we might be able to work together then please contact me anytime on 07913238173. Please use whichever method you are most comfortable with, either call, text or leave a WhatsApp. If you call and I’m unable to answer please leave a voicemail and I will call you back. I will get in touch with you to arrange an informal initial chat. I look forward to speaking with you.