Christine Nicholson

Hello and welcome. My name is Christine Nicholson and I offer Core Process Psychotherapy and Supervision.

We seek therapy because we are suffering in some way, and may feel unable to cope with life situations, are unhappy, overwhelmed, anxious, trapped, fearful, alone, confused, self-conscious, low self-worth, dissatisfaction, despair and feel not able to move forward in your life. To cope we may avoid these difficult feelings and many of us develop unconscious strategies to avoid the pain suffering causes. Whilst these strategies work for a time, after a long while, these ‘survival strategies’ become less effective in containing our more challenging emotions.

The process of therapy is to gently bring awareness to what obscures the inherent health at our core. There is a gentle invitation to explore your embodied awareness of your moment-to-moment experience and deepen into your authentic sense of self.

The invitation is to gently enquire and become curious of your body’s sensations, feelings, thoughts, beliefs, images, memories, fantasies, hopes and dreams and explore how they are expressed in the body in the present moment. Bringing mindful attention to our sensations is a way to sense how we relate to our experience, so that it becomes possible to move with greater flexibility, ease and freedom in our lives. Freedom comes from insight into the ways in which we hold onto our suffering. This encourages a deeper connection and brings a sense of spaciousness to our inner sense of self.

My intention is to support you to develop an embodied awareness of how you do life, how you relate to your everyday experiences in relationship to yourself and others. It takes courage to listen to your hearts’ hopes and dreams and to learn what support means in this journey of reconnecting to your inner health and wellbeing. Relationships can cause suffering and at the same time they are also a vehicle for inner reconnection, change and joy.

My approach is to bring compassionate awareness and kindness to what is happening in the body by being curious, non-judgmental with an intention to deeply listen to your human beingness in all its ways of being. The invitation is to attend to these places of suffering which have been obscured through challenging life experiences and inviting you to reconnect to the wisdom and inherent health that is also present. Often it is not the destination that is important but what emerges along the journey that we learn the most from.

At the heart of the work is building trust and safety, both in our therapeutic relationship and internally. My intention is to provide a quiet and calm space that provides a sense of safety and trust to explore whatever you wish to bring. To support you in this process of learning to trust yourself and feel safe again, we explore your experience of what you see, hear and feel from your embodied experience in the present moment. Learning when the past is overlaying the present helps us become more aware of where we are in our relationship with ourselves, another person and the world.

I have a Masters in Core Process Psychotherapy - six years of professional training and clinical practice with the Karuna Institute, accredited to Middlesex University. Diploma in Mindfulness based Contemplative Supervision also with the Karuna Institute. 

The origins of Core Process Psychotherapy are humanistic, integrative, transpersonal and psychospiritual. It’s a unique practice that blends Buddhist psychology with western psychotherapeutic theories and body mindfulness enquiry.

In Core Process Psychotherapy our core is a quality of being that is already whole, healthy and liberated. ‘Core’ refers to the inherent health at the heart of our being which can be expressed as the wise mind within us, and ‘Process’ is the exploration of how we move towards and away from our suffering by paying attention to that movement as a pathway back to our inherent health.

I offer a 20-minute telephone call (free of charge) to answer any queries you may have and to ascertain practical details and if there are any boundary issues. We arrange a time suitable for both and I suggest we meet for an initial session to gain a sense as to whether we would like to work together. This session is charged at my usual hourly rate.

I am an experienced Core Process Psychotherapist and Supervisor with over 10 years’ experience working in full time private practice. Offering a relational and integrative approach to supervision based on the Mindfulness based Contemplative Supervision training at the Karuna Institute in Devon and Middlesex University, London and the Centre for Supervision Training and Development (CSTD), Hawkins & Shohet model in Bath.

The supervisory relationship can be an empowering experience and provides a space to bring a gentle enquiry to the process of the therapeutic relationship you have with your clients, the impact this has on you as therapist and what may be emerging in the supervisory space relating to your work and at times your personal life. Together we reflect, explore and deepen into possibilities of what might be happening whilst also being curious, creative and staying open to learning and gaining understanding in this very special and rich enquiry.

Supervision is a space to deepen into your relationship with your clients, bring a curiosity to your work that is non-judgmental and allows compassion when the therapeutic relationship can become challenging. It allows an opportunity to deepen into process and reflect on the difficulties and hidden aspects of the therapeutic relationship, such as transference, countertransference, parallel processes and personal blind spots.

Safety and trust are at the heart of any relationship and supervision is no different. I aim to provide a safe holding for you to bring your client work and at times will challenge you as this cultivates resilience and agency to offer the same in your work with your clients. Self-care and resourcing are important aspects of supervision that will also be attended to at times.

To support you in your work, I encourage you to bring what informs your life and work, ethical and moral issues and professional interests that you would like to develop.

I work both in person and online from my practice based on the outskirts of Stirling with psychotherapists, counsellors, students, health professionals or anyone working relationally with people in individual and small group supervision.

I have a Masters in Core Process Psychotherapy - six years of professional training and clinical practice with the Karuna Institute, accredited to Middlesex University and a Diploma in Mindfulness based Contemplative Supervision also with the Karuna Institute. I am currently completing the supervision training at the Centre for Supervision Training and Development (CSTD), Hawkins & Shohet model in Bath.

I am an accredited member of the UK Council of Psychotherapy (UKCP) and a registered member of the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP). I abide by these organisations’ ethical frameworks, guidelines for good practice and codes of confidentiality. I am also a registered Data Controller and have Professional Liability Insurance.

Fees are negotiated in relation to the nature of the supervision structure depending on the needs of the supervisees.

We arrange a time suitable for both to meet for an initial session of 1 hour to answer any queries you may have, to ascertain practical details and if there are any boundary issues.  This allows us space to have a sense as to whether we would like to work together. This session is charged at my usual hourly rate.