Sara Smith

I currently have availability.  My practice hours are:

Monday:          9am - 1pm; 2pm - 5pm

Tuesday:         9am - 1pm; 2pm - 5pm

Wednesday:  9am - 1pm; 2pm-5pm

Thursday:       9am - 1pm; 2pm-5pm

I have some evening availability on request.

Reaching out for support in times of need is courageous. I can offer you a calm, confidential space where you can explore your current difficulties with an empathic other without fear of being judged

Underpinning my work is my firm belief that you are the expert in you. Even though things may feel overwhelming and insurmountable at the moment, I trust that you have the resources within yourself to resolve the issues that are causing you distress.  What I can offer is a calm, confidential space where you can explore whatever is going on for you, without judgement.  

I work in an integrative way combining a range of theories and skills in order to provide a counselling service tailored to your individual needs.  Our work together is collaborative; a joint process built on trust.  As such, we will work together to find methods and techniques that help you to understand your current situation in a way that makes sense to you.  

Through our work together, my aim is to facilitate a space where you can begin to view what is going on for you in a more objective way so that you can find answers and solutions that feel comfortable for you.

There are many different models of counselling which can become quite overwhelming and confusing.  It is possible that you are familiar with some ways of working or this may be your first experience of counselling and you do not know what to expect.

I am an integrative counsellor and am a registered member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP).  So, what does this mean?  It means that I am trained in a range of different therapies and I draw from each of these to make a bespoke service for you.  My core modalities are:

Person centred therapy 

This is the bedrock of my work and ensures that you have a space where you are free to bring whatever you need to bring knowing that you will be received with warmth, empathic understanding and no judgement.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) 

The theory behind CBT is that we can have negative thinking patterns which influence our feelings and ways of responding.  By learning how to modify these patterns of thinking, we can start to respond in ways that are healthier for us.

 Transactional Analysis (TA)

The focus here is on how we relate to each other and how our ways of responding in different situations are influenced by our past relationships and how we have been received by significant people in our lives.

In addition to these ways of working, I also have a higher diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling which focusses on our early relationships and attachments and how these influence how we respond now.  These experiences often lie in the unconscious mind and it is only by bringing them into the conscious that we can begin to have the choice to change things for our own benefit.

I work with adults and young people from 14 years old.  I can support you with a range of life problems including helping you to understand how past relationships and experiences influence the way that you respond to difficulties in the present.  I have both personal and professional experience working within the LGBTQ+ community.

You have taken the most difficult step by deciding to reach out for support. I appreciate that finding the right counsellor is a very personal decision and so I offer a free 30 minute phone or video consultation to help you decide if you feel that we can work together. If you feel you would like to arrange this, you can contact me via email so that we can arrange a time convenient to you.

During this initial call we can talk about what you would like to get out of counsellling. This call will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions that you have about counselling in general and specifically about the way the I work.  After this, if you decide to work with me, we can arrange meetings, which are usually weekly. All my sessions are currently online.