Natasha Dancy

My current availability is

- Mondays in Gloucester, 4pm and 5pm

- Wednesday and Thursdays in Cheltenham 3pm, 4pm 

- Online (adults only) - Mondays 9am only time left

I also work online and can offer flexible fortnightly and monthly sessions towards the end of your work

Hi, My name is Natasha and I'm a qualified integrative counsellor since 2017 providing short and long term therapy to adults and young people (thirteen and older). Often, we're able to manage life and what comes our way. However, at times situations can feel overwhelming and impossible to face on your own. Maybe you're unable to share with friends and family what's burdening you for fear they won't understand or judge you. Or you're worried about your child and don't know how else to help them. I'm here to offer you the support you or your child need with the goal to help you grow into a peaceful, free and hopeful life ahead.

I trained integratively, which means I've integrated both person-centred and psychodynamic theories into my practice. What this means in practice is that, on the one hand, I will listen empathically letting you decide the pace of the sessions and encouraging you to find answers for yourself. I believe we are the true experts on ourselves and our own story. 

On the other hand, I may invite you to look back at your childhood patterns of relating and attachment, using family trees and exploring your current relationships to uncover a possible blueprint of who you are and how you relate to others. This might feel as if in session I may be holding up a mirror to yourself, to observe, feel and discover aspects of yourself in the safety and trust of our sessions. 

My hope is that through our weekly encounters in counselling therapy you will be able to discover the who, what, why and how of what has brought you to my practice in the first place. 

Although my work with young people is also integrative, I tend to offer a more creative and person-centred space for adolescents who are only just starting to question who they are and who may not take on the psychodynamic work so keenly. My extensive work as a secondary school therapist has allowed me to learn much from my younger clients and I continue to enjoy the work we do together. 

Our first contact will be a free 15/20 minute phone call so you can ask about availability, timings, location and any other questions you might have about how I work. During our first session I will explain the contract, ask for your GP registration and assess what you require with a very brief questionnaire.

If you are happy to proceed, I will offer you an initial 6 sessions to start the work. From there, we will review the work regularly as this can help you refocus as well as helping decide whether to continue or not. It's important you feel you can decide when to finish and that you're comfortable enough to talk about it. In my experience, counselling is best done in phases where you can return again in the future to continue building on what you've started in our sessions. It's not always possible to get where we want in one go!

If you're bringing a young person, I will send you the necessary documentation in advance. I usually meet with parents/carers and the young person together in a first session to hear what the presenting problem might be, see how I might best support and understand what's required of the work. I'm aware of the need to be sensitive towards the anxieties of the parents/carers, whilst balancing the confidentiality of the young person. 

With young people I offer creative therapy which can range from art, lego, sand-tray activities and even playing card games. These all help establish a therapeutic relationship from which the work is developed. We will also review every 6 weeks. 

During counselling, I will listen to what it is you're wanting to explore and make sense of. If you are open to having long-term work then I may invite you to explore your childhood and past focusing on early relationships and attachments. If you're wanting short-term work, we will focus only on a few aspects/themes you are wanting to bring and what you want to achieve, working mainly in the present, thinking about your relationships and your current life dynamics.