Katy Oswald

Our mental health is connected with how we feel about ourselves and our life experiences. I offer a safe counselling relationship to help you make sense of those experiences, and how you feel. Through this you can better understand the challenges and struggles you are facing, and work out how you can respond to them. 

I will work to create a relationship with you in which you can feel safe enough to talk about difficult or painful experiences, thoughts and feelings. I will not judge you, no matter what you need to talk about. My aim is to help you start to connect with and feel differently about yourself. This can lead to greater self-awareness and acceptance.

Some areas we might explore could be: 

how there may be different, seemingly contradictory, parts of you, and how you can become more comfortable with them all;

how you relate to others and how you can break out of patterns of unhealthy relationships;

how the story you tell about yourself might be limiting your awareness and acceptance of yourself;

how you might self-sabotage and behave in ways that block you;

how you feel about yourself and how that is shaped by your experiences;

how you respond to challenging life events and how you can deal with them differently;

how past difficult or painful experiences can keep you "stuck" in the past;

Previous to training as a humanistic counsellor, I was a social science teacher and researcher at the University of Sussex. I believe that our feelings about ourselves are not just shaped by our personal experiences, family and relationships, but also by the communities and society that we live in, and I bring this into my approach to therapy. I also draw on existential, Gestalt, and feminist ideas. 

In addition to my private practice, I am also an Associate Lecturer at the Open University, teaching on the module "Exploring Counselling and Mental Health". 

I work from a room in the Fiveways Hub on Ditchling Road in Brighton. I offer sessions either in-person or via video call. 

I offer an initial 50 minute consultation for free. This session is a chance for us to get to know one another, for you to experience the way I work, ask any questions you might have, and decide if I am the right counsellor for you.