Abby Jones

Accepting new clients from January 2025

I'm a psychotherapist and counsellor specialising in people who have or suspect they may have Autism. 

Being an Autist in a world designed for Non-Autists brings unique challenges. 

So on top of whatever standard life struggles and events might bring a person to therapy, there's often a history of traumatic social exclusion/rejection. 

This can logically result in a baseline of anxiety, depression, exhaustion, often isolation and low self-esteem. 

These are all issues which studies show can improve with the right support.

We can learn to manage challenges more successfully, care for ourselves in ways that suit us and get the most out of life. 

I aim to find out about your particular struggles and strengths, together we work out the difference between the things we need to work around and the things we might be able to change.

Then see you thriving in the world and loving your uniqueness.

I call how I work Talk, Feel, Grow, as that's literally what happens. It's rooted in the belief that Autism is not a disorder, it's just a natural difference. 

Everything in the world naturally flourishes in the right conditions and the wrong conditions can significantly impede growth.

As Autists, we're likely to have been trying to grow in conditions which are right for others, not necessarily right for us. 

This can be very painful, damaging to self-esteem and get in the way our us achieving our inherent potential.

We can work together to find out what your ideal conditions are and how to create more of them. 

Often the expectations of others or our expectations of ourselves can create blocks to our natural flourishing. We can work together to identify; and either remove or work around these barriers which come from inappropriate expectations. 

It looks different for everyone. You'll get a bespoke service tailored to your particular needs.

Optional tools available are: 

Traditional talking psychotherapy & counselling

Activities such as drawing, writing, plasticine modelling

Role playing and thought experiments

Practical tools for the body to independently self-sooth such as grounding/calming techniques, mindfulness and self acupressure 

If you're curious to find out more, just let me know and we can have an initial exploratory talk (by phone, video or email, whichever feels best for you)  

No masking required.

It's entirely normal for it to take a crisis causing us to feel overwhelmed in order to make this step into the unknown. 

So we usually begin by focusing on safety and stabilisation right now.

Depending on where you are and what's going on, this might be resolved quickly or might take a few weeks.

Then we can look at your past experience, where you'd like to be in future and how to get there.

You'll always be welcome to ask me anything and always be welcome to tell me directly what you want most out of each meeting.

It's not a case of me having a plan about where you should be going, it's me helping you work out where you want to go and supporting you in finding a way to get there.

Not currently accepting new clients

I'm an experienced Psychotherapist and Counsellor specialising in autism, adverse childhood experiences, relationships and anxiety.

If you're looking for a different approach to a long standing issue and want to stop the past defining who you are now; or has something unexpected happened which has left you feeling destabilized or confused, I'm able to support you.

We are not able to change the things which affected us, but we can manage if differently, redefine it, change what we believe it means about us. We can make different decisions regarding to how we handle our emotions and feelings in the present and begin to change certain behaviors that undermine us, break patterns we may have been in for a long time.

As well as current anxiety, low self-esteem and relationship problems; I specialize in recovery from difficult childhoods, especially with parents exhibiting narcissistic behaviours and the impact of crime.

As an Integrative Therapist I have skills and techniques from many different types of therapy which I tailor to your particular situation and needs. I offer a traditional talking therapy approach with the addition of working with the body and creative arts. What this usually looks like is you just speaking as freely and honestly as you can and me asking questions, drawing attention to things in the background or assumptions we may want to challenge . We may do activities, introduce physical calming excises and experiments which support positive change and new ways of seeing things.

I have worked with clients referred by Welsh Government, The NHS, Gwent Police, Local Authority's, Barnardo's, University of South Wales and Victim Support.

Talk, Feel, Grow is rooted in the belief that everything naturally flourishes in the right conditions and that the wrong conditions significantly impede growth.

How we remove those blocks to your natural flourishing looks different for every person. At Talk, Feel, Grow you'll get a bespoke service tailored to your very particular needs, whether it's historic issues, a current crisis or feeling haven't yet achieved your potential in life yet.

The tools available to find your particular contentment are a combination of traditional talking psychotherapy, creative activities such as drawing, writing, plasticine modeling, writing, poetry, role playing and practical tools to independently self-sooth such as body grounding techniques, mindfulness and acupressure (not involving touch by others, learning to apply these to yourself)

If Talk, Feel, Grow had a theme tune, it would be Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads because the aim is to answer those fundamental questions - How did I get here? How do I work this? To enable you to start thriving.

You're welcome to get in touch to book a free 20 minute telephone assesment to see if it feels like the right fertilizer for you.