Steve Thom

I offer in person sessions from Teignmouth and Exeter or online. I work Tuesday to Friday, including some evenings.

I place great emphasis on developing a warm, non-judgmental, collaborative relationship with my clients. This helps them to feel safe, as well helping me to tailor my approach to fit with whatever difficulties that they are facing.

Sometimes clients need to be heard and understood, sometimes there will be a need to process past experiences and sometimes a need to prepare for a difficult life choice. The counselling that I offer provides the time and space for clients to talk about everything and anything that is troubling them in their lives, freely and in confidence. 

This is the approach that I use, which I tailor to fit to around the needs of each client:    

Initial Exploration and Connection:

• Start our therapeutic journey by getting to know each other and understanding the reasons you're here.

• Create the conditions for you to feel safe, build trust and develop a strong therapeutic relationship.

• Explore your personal history and experiences that have shaped you.

Addressing Immediate Challenges:

• Focus on managing specific issues such as panic attacks, anger, or insomnia together.

• Where appropriate, suggest practical support and guidance to help you navigate through these difficulties.

Deepening Understanding and Empowering Change:

• Explore what is under the surface of these difficulties, for example, increasing awareness of patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that may have served you well in the past, but are now problematic.

• Uncover personal values to guide decision-making and collaboratively identify achievable changes in line with those values.

• As therapy comes to an end, reflect on your progress, what are you taking away from our work together that can support your ongoing personal growth. 

Where appropriate, I also incorporate coaching elements into counselling, for example setting goals and aiding in difficult life decisions.

No matter what issues you bring to our work together, my aim will always be to help you make those first steps on your own upward spiral and help you live a happier, healthier life.

I offer a free 30 minute, no obligation, initial consultation either in person or online to help us decide if we'd be a good fit to work together.

This session is for us to spend some time getting to know each other, to talk about what brings you to counselling at this time and what you'd like to be different. It's also an opportunity to ask me any questions that you may have to help you decide if I am the right counsellor for you. 

Here are my usual working hours and locations:

Tuesday: 9.30 am to 8.00 pm (Teignmouth/Online)

Wednesday: 9.30 am to 8.00 pm (Teignmouth/Online)

Thursday: 10.00 to 8.00 pm (Exeter/Online)

Friday: 9.00 am to 4.00 pm (Exeter/Online)

Please contact me, or check my Facebook page for current availability.

My name is Steve and I wholeheartedly welcome the chance to work with anyone who needs the time and space to talk about everything and anything that is troubling them in life, freely and in confidence.

In addition, I also have a special interest in working with:

• Men, particularly those who may be struggling to cope and who find it difficult to reach out for help. Issues I can help with range from stress, managing anger, anxiety, relationship problems, bereavement or loss, and difficulties with self-esteem and masculinity
• Students who may be experiencing feelings of depression or anxiety related to issues such as academic pressure, family and relationship issues, eating difficulties, feeling stuck or confused or uncertainty about future life choices.
• Anyone who is feeling overwhelmed with the pressures of life or work and who may be experiencing burnout.

I am also a professionally qualified and coach with over 12 years of experience. In that time I have worked with clients on issues such as developing confidence, being more assertive, time management, public speaking and managing difficult working relationships.

Clients tell me that I am warm, kind, non-judgemental and easy to talk to, especially after taking that difficult first step to contact a counsellor in the first place.

I am an integrative counsellor, which means I have developed my own way of working using a variety of approaches. I also place great emphasis on developing a warm, non-judgmental, collaborative relationship with my clients. This helps clients feel safe, as well helping me to tailor my approach to fit with whatever difficulties that they are facing. 

I also draw on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to help clients to manage issues such as having outbursts of extreme anger, meltdowns or panic attacks and the feelings of shame or self-criticism that often come afterwards. MBCT helps clients to become more aware of these automatic thoughts, feelings and behaviours rather than becoming swept away with them.

The combination of mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy is what makes MBCT so effective, particularly for clients who are struggling with anxiety and depression. Mindfulness helps clients to observe and identify thoughts and feelings while CBT helps clients to interrupt automatic thought processes and work through feelings in a healthy way.

I am also influenced by attachment theory and how our sense of self is shaped by our early experiences with caregivers. These turn into our ‘maps of the world’ and influence how we perceive ourselves and how we think we are perceived by others, often unconsciously. 

 Therapy helps through me trying to understand the client’s ‘map of the world’ and then helping them to gain new perspectives – both about themselves and their relationships with others.  It is these new perspectives which can help clients with their emotional wellbeing and mental health and enable them to live life to their full potential. 

Where appropriate, I also incorporate coaching elements into counselling, for example setting goals and aiding in difficult life decisions. 

No matter what issues you bring to our work together, my aim will always be to help you make those first steps on your own upward spiral and help you live a happier, healthier life.

I offer a free 30 minute, no obligation, initial consultation either online or by phone to help us decide if we'd be a good fit to work together.

This session is for us to spend some time getting to know each other, to talk about what brings you to counselling at this time and what you'd like to be different.  It's also an opportunity to ask me any questions that you may have to help you decide if I am the right counsellor for you.