Denise John

Main hours 

Monday          8.00 am - 5.00 pm

Tuesday         8.00 am - 5.00 pm

Wednesday  8.00 am - 5.00 pm

My sessions are 50 minutes in duration. My latest evening slot is 5.00 pm. Please note that evening slots become booked very quickly. I currently have availability for new clients.

When I receive your initial enquiry I aim to reply to you within 12 hours. If you message me late in the evening you will receive a reply first thing in the morning. Weekends may take a little longer.

Counselling is a process it is recommended that clients attend at least 8 sessions in succession.  

Are you feeling anxious or depressed? Have you experienced a trauma or loss that is making you feel low? Not sure what to do next?  By talking things over with me in my warm, safe, comfortable counselling room, we will find a way together to help you move forward. You will gradually begin to feel stronger and more confident and so able to meet all of the challenges of life.

As you become stronger you will feel able to make positive changes in your life which will improve your outlook and you will be able to live your life in a more fulfilling manner. Through joining together with me as an experienced, qualified counsellor and working in a restorative partnership you will begin to build up your confidence, self-esteem and regain your self-respect to enable you to retake control over your life.

My support will enable you to have a greater understanding of your issues and help you to locate inner-strength to help you manage those issues in a more productive way. Thus increasing your resilience and so enable you to face your problems with a greater level of self-confidence. Together we will explore your feelings and emotions helping you to deal with your problems head on and enabling you to achieve a satisfactory conclusion.

I use Person-Centred Therapy (PCT) which is a talking therapy that enables you to explore your feelings and emotions. By talking through your issues together we can examine in close detail the various parts of the issues that are troubling you. Ultimately you will begin to see for yourself the solutions to your problems and have the strength to resolve them. PCT is a therapy centred around you and not your problem. You will lead the conversation into any direction that you wish enabling you to cover all areas that are difficult for you.

Another therapy I use is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which is a solution focused therapy that teaches skills to help you change the way you think about your problems. CBT is based on the idea that your thoughts, feelings, physical reactions and the things you do are all related and that you can become trapped in a cycle of negative thoughts and behaviours. When negative thoughts enter your mind you will learn to deal with them in a more positive way. Thus you will be able to keep your issues to a more manageable level. 

My main area of expertise is working with people who are suffering anxiety and depression. There are many issues which can cause people to suffer from anxiety and depression. Sometimes there could be several problems that have just piled up and not been dealt with and some people can just feel over-whelmed. You will decide where and how to start the process. I will follow your lead.

I have experience in a wide variety of other mental health conditions including abuse, dependency, chronic illness, and bereavement and loss. People who have suffered a bereavement can be affected in many ways and no two people will experience grief in the same way or for the same length of time. Talking through their loss helps them to understand their own grieving process and understand that they are not alone and that the process of grieving is something we all go through at some time in our lives..

After you have sent me an e-mail or telephoned me (Please leave a message and I will ring you back) to a arrange an initial free telephone consultation. During this call I will ask you a little about what is troubling you and what you would like to gain from your counselling sessions. If you are happy to proceed you can book your first session at a time to suit you. 

The first full session will be an assessment session. In this session you can begin by talking about the issues which are troubling you. You may feel very nervous at first talking to a complete stranger. As you build up your confidence you may find that you are doing all the talking. This is necessary to express your feelings and emotions and build up a picture about your problems. I may ask a question for verification of some points. You may have more issues that you want to explore so you can prioritise which issue you need to deal with first. I will listen to you and paraphrase back what you have said so that you know you are being listened to and understood. Gradually by talking things through with me you will begin to see things more clearly and you will come to see your own conclusions about what you need to do next. Together we will decide exactly how to proceed in planning your treatment.

I also provide counselling sessions both by telephone or online for people who would rather not travel or would simply prefer the comfort of their own home. I offer the exact same service for everyone no matter how the counselling is accessed.