Heather Pender

I have some evening spaces available for private practice. 

My work is integrative - drawing from a variety of therapeutic styles and theory. I work with Rogers' Person Centred warmth at heart, together with a psychodynamic understanding of how our patterns and past have influenced who we are. I keep the sociological in mind, how social factors (school experiences, culture, inequalities, minority-stress-trauma) impact us. And I am curious about our present thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and which of those behaviours are learned and which you may want to unlearn. I may weave in some CBT / behavioural pieces of work for us to do together if you are specifically looking to work with behaviour change (eg addiction). However, I CBT is not my main style of therapy, is it something I can integrate if needed for specific issues. I will be curious about what happens in the room between you and I and how it feels to work together. 

My therapy work is influenced by many years of previous and current work in addiction treatment centres, youth work and having a background of teaching yoga and meditation.  I work in an embodied way which means we may pay some attention to our bodies and our breath at times as we talk about different feelings and experiences in your life. 

Having witnessed countless people in transformation I am passionate about our ability to change. I am diversity-affirmative and experienced in working with a variety of sexualities, gender identities, race, class and ages and ability / disabilities. I am Deaf / HoH aware and can sign (BSL). 

My private practice is currently solely via Zoom. 

I am a believer in the container of therapy which needs a beginning, a middle and an end to hold the work. After some time of exploring working with different time frames I now work with a  sense of a time frame, whether it be 6 weeks or 6 months. This supports us to work in a focussed way together, and to make the most of your time and financial investment. I would be aiming for us to have done a useful piece of therapeutic work together within a maximum of 12 months. 

It's important for me to be entirely transparent open with prospective clients that if you are looking for a therapist who can commit to working beyond a 12 month period I would not be the right therapist for you. 

You might feel a little nervous about coming to the first session and want to ask me questions about what therapy could be for you. Or, you may very much want to dive in and explore what is going on for you right now - everyone is different. Either way, there is no formal assessment, therapy begins in the first session. You may tell me a little about why you have decided to come for counselling, and why now at this time. We will both be learning about how it feels to be together and if we would like to begin on going work together. If we continue working together, we review how we are doing at 6 weeks intervals to ensure you are getting what you need from therapy. 

All sessions, including the first, are 50 minutes long and are £70. I do low cost work for a charity and do not have low cost spaces in my private practice. 

You are very welcome email me and request a phonecall from me for a 10 minute conversation before deciding to book a first session.