Anne-Marie Cooper-Kilroy

www.connectcounselling.co.uk

I work with individuals and couples on either a ling term or short term basis, I currently have availability in the afternoons on week days.

Thank you for reading my profile. I work with adults and couples with a variety of problems to help them find insight and meaning to the issues they feel are holding them back, for example, depression, self esteem, anxiety etc and I also have a  specialism in bereavement counselling working with clients facing  life changes and loss.

My foundations in psychodynamic counselling means that, not only will we talk about what is happening now, but we will also talk about your previous life experiences and explore how what is happening now may have originated in your younger years.

How might I help you? Everybody has problems, but for some working through them is more challenging than for others; perhaps because of an early childhood experience or trauma, or a relationship problem, or a feeling of sadness that might feel too hard or frightening to unpack alone. I can help.

It’s ok not to be ok, but you don’t have to be alone with your struggle. Counselling will help you make meaning of how and why you are feeling the way you do and enable you to move forward with resilience and confidence.

It is really important that we feel comfortable working together, therefore the next step would be for you to email me at helloconnectcounselling@gmail.com with any questions or queries. If you would then like to explore the possibility of us working together we can arrange an initial consultation assessment session.

I am currently working with clients over a variety of platforms: face to face in person, over the telephone or via video platform therefore you are able to choose the method that feels most comfortable with you.  We would meet/speak weekly, ideally, on the same day and time when we would dedicate the 50 minute session to thinking about you and what is happening in your world.

Alongside my private practice, I work as a School Counsellor as part of a Pastoral Care Team. When working with young people I encourage students to understand their problems/worries and together we take a proactive, solution focused approach in moving forward.

The first session, the assessment session, can last up to 90 minutes, it is longer than the usual counselling session (50 minutes) as it gives you an opportunity for you to tell me your story, how you are feeling and what you hope to gain from counselling. I will also ask questions about your upbringing and family as there is a thought in my practice that emotional responses are formed at a young age and can be replayed throughout our adult lives.  

After the initial consultation we would discuss how it felt for you to tell me your story and I would invite you to think about if you felt comfortable in the therapeutic space with me and if you would like to proceed to create a working therapeutic relationship.  Likewise I too would also think about whether I was the right therapist to help you with your emotional growth.  If we were in agreement we would then consult our diaries to find a mutual time and day when our regular work together would commence.

Geography is not the obstacle that it once was as many of us have become familiar with working online, therefore I am able to work with clients from anywhere in the UK or further afield.  However, if you would like to meet in person (and guidelines permitted) my Bedford based counselling room is large enough to comply with social distancing and I comply with track and trace for continuing  safe practice.