Natasha Miller

The warmest of welcomes to my page. It’s my pleasure to meet you… and however you are feeling right now, that’s welcome too.

I don’t know what exactly brought you here, but maybe clarifying what the problem is, how those feelings are, expressing them somehow, can bring some relief and release.

I am an integrative counsellor and Sandplay therapist. 

This means I work with many different theories and techniques, tailored to your specific needs. 

No one is as unique as you, and it is my firmly held conviction that absolutely no one is beyond help.

We work together offering kind witnessing to find a nurturing, creative and restorative way forward. You may find the empathic, accepting relationship we develop can enable you to access areas that just seemed too painful to get near before. We can reflect together on new ways of being that can get closer to core difficulties, in practical, manageable ways that you experience as safe and grounding.

Research states that paying attention to our breath and the body (where and how we sense and feel things) is essential to re-gaining balance and wellbeing. Sandplay and other creative approaches offer exciting and innovative ways to incorporate this.

It’s not easy (and pretty courageous to even be looking for a counsellor at all!) but here you’ve got my support, compassion, and empathy to explore this together. Someone has your back and brings solidity to help you do this. Wherever or whatever that pain, block, feeling, thought, emotion, stuckness, dread is.

It is this respect and sensitivity, accompanying you through troubles with compassion, that you can expect from me.

Do get in touch, it would be my pleasure to hear from you.

You can choose from welcoming and comfy therapy rooms in Bromley and Croydon. I also consider care home visits and can offer secure online working.

Do let me know of any access needs you have.

You are welcome to my website at www.counsellornatasha.co.uk

Perhaps you tried counselling before, and it wasn’t the right time or didn't feel right. I’m happy to hear about that. All your experiences are valid and valued. Working together, you are in control and get to decide the pace and focus. You can expect our primary focus will always on your feeling safe and comfy in the moment.

I accept a limited number of clients to offer a truly bespoke service, tailored to you.

People find counselling and Sandplay helpful for:

• Identity, anxiety or lack of confidence or belief in self
  
• Unhelpful relationship patterns or problems
• Fear and trauma
• Stress, lack of meaning, and depression
• Loss, endings, change, and grief work

Every single person who comes for counselling is different. Your uniqueness is celebrated here.

I am an intercultural counsellor, which means I practice cultural humility. This means exploring and define your own identities in the world, particularly which may be shamed, acknowledging social realities. Here, you are believed.

It may help to know a little about me. Prior to being a counsellor, I worked with the very young, right through to the very old, with particular focus on trauma and “otherness,” being and feeling “different.” I have worked with infants and children, families, homeless populations, those in recovery from addiction, living with chronic health conditions and older adults. I am privileged to have learnt so much.

From this I have been honoured to witness the pain, shame, trauma, grief, sorrow, loss, courage, despair…and smiles! I have been humbled to welcome all these and make meaning together, always with the deepest respect, compassion, and sincerity.

Beneath all the pain and tears, there is a wonderment to being you, perhaps together we can discover a sense of what that may be.

It would be my absolute pleasure to welcome you, too.

Come as you are! 

You are welcome and all your thoughts and emotions are welcome too.

I offer one initial meeting session, this is sometimes called an assessment. This helps you decide whether you feel safe and comfy to work together with me. You have choice. 

• I encourage clients to check-in with themselves: does this feel meaningful and helpful for me? 
• I also reflect very carefully: am I able to offer the help that you need right now?
  

Your safety, needs and wellbeing are my priority at all times and you will hopefully experience this, which can be healing and helpful in its own right.

No fear, at this initial assessment I will not be asking you lots of questions. You can come with a story or without, with a problem or without. Knowing a focus, or having no focus whatsoever and just feeling messy and chaotic. There is no shame here and I welcome you exactly where you are at right now. 

Although, of course, I would be delighted to hear what you feel is important for me to know about you, do not leave that out!

Sometimes I will invite you to make a sandtray or pick a symbol which resonates with you. These materials are at your disposal for your expression and transformation of emotions. I understand that when feeling deeply, putting language to this seems impossible. This is backed by the latest research in neurobiology, so if you have ever had that experience, your brain and nervous system are functioning okay! 

Using Sandplay and creative materials offer a gentle kind witnessing recognising experiences that cannot be put into words. 

There is never any pressure to talk or answer a question. The sand, drawings, fidgets, symbols are valid and valued means of expression with me.

Sandplay and play-based or creative working can be particularly accessible, welcoming clients who are neurodiverse, live with complex trauma or learning differences. It also makes counselling accessible to people living with dementia.

Feel free to visit my website: https://counsellornatasha.co.uk