Cathy Orchard

I am an experienced psychotherapist and counsellor, offering a safe, non-judgemental place where you can make sense of where you are, develop self-understanding and build compassion for yourself, to work out a way of moving more comfortably into your future, and building the life you want to live.

I am trained in and integrate different therapies. This enables me to draw on a range of approaches to tailor the therapy to each individual client. Building a strong, trusting, co-creative therapeutic relationship with you is the foundation for exploring what troubles you, and for changing behavioural patterns and healing past trauma. I will support and guide you to discover and draw on the wisdom and strength of your body. This way of working enables us to transform our own processes, as well as how we relate with others, in order to find emotional freedom.

I balance deep psychodynamic work with unconscious processes to address long-standing behaviours and difficulties, with more practical strategies to offer support and relief in the here and now. These strategies might draw from CBT or body psychotherapy, depending on what works for you. 

I also use Internal Family Systems tools to support you to access your unconscious so that your Self and your parts can work deeply and productively.

In my private practice, I work both long-term and short-term, although most of my clients stay for a while, as it takes time to heal trauma. I have experience of working long-term in NHS Secondary Care, and low-cost community settings, and short-term in University counselling and community NHS primary care settings. I work with a range of presentations, including: anxiety, depression, trauma, low self-esteem, family issues, low-confidence, shame, relationship, childhood relational trauma, issues of identity, obsessional thinking, addiction, and loss and bereavement. I also work with Boarding School Syndrome, Adult Children of Alcoholic Parents, childhood sexual abuse, and chronic pain.  

My approach is tailored to each individual client, drawing on a range of modalities to enable us to work deeply and relationally to build understanding and awareness, and shift patterns of relating to self and others, and to life situations and challenges. We can learn to use our bodies as well as our minds to support this self-discovery and growth. I draw on theory and technique from Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Attachment Based Psychotherapy, Body Psychotherapy and CBT and Mindfulness techniques. You can read more about these approaches on my website.

I am trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and integrate this into my work to expedite insight and healing. This revolutionary tool enables me to support you to harness the undamaged power of your Self in order to heal the wounded and protective parts of your system. This evidence-based approach is increasingly used in NHS mental health services.

In line with Humanistic Principles I recognise, value and work with the whole person, in the belief that each person contains within them the potential for growth and transformation, which I facilitate by creating a nurturing, supportive therapeutic environment. We will use our relationship to explore and change ingrained patterns which no longer serve.

I believe strongly in the healing power of compassion, and that self-compassion is the antidote to self-criticism. I incorporate self-compassion teaching into my work.

I am accredited by UKCP and senior registered with BACP. I abide by the principles of their Ethical Frameworks. My practice is a short walk from Folkestone West station, with off-street parking. Confidential messages can be left on the phone number provided, or you can email me. I offer a free brief phone consultation before meeting.

The first session is an opportunity for us to meet, get to know each other, and discover how we can work together. It provides space for you to tell me about yourself, and what you hope to gain from therapy. I will ask you to tell me a bit about your family history and your current situation, as well as your hopes and fears about your past, present and future. In this session you can ask me about how I work and what you can expect from me. Together we can decide our way forward. 

This first meeting can be daunting. I will not barrage you with questions nor ask you to share anything you are uncomfortable with. I will guide you to bring what needs to be spoken. The therapy begins in this first hour, and usually you will come away with new insight and awareness, as well as a sense of what is to come.