Vicki McDonald

I work the following hours;

Monday 9:30-14:30 and 17:30 -21:00 

Wednesday 9:30-18:00 

Thursday 9:30-14:30

Friday 12:00-15:00

If you are interested in working with me and these timings do not suit you please do contact to discuss alternative times.

I believe most people experience periods in their life when they are faced with troubling and challenging times.   This can appear in many different forms; anxiety, depression, a lack of self-worth or confidence, relationship concerns, coming to terms with difficulties from the past and many more.  When faced with these challenges counselling gives you a safe space to talk and provides you with an uninterrupted focus on you and your needs, which is so often lacking in our lives.

As your counsellor my hope is that you would find me warm, approachable and totally non-judgemental.  I truly believe that you have the answers within you to start to feel better and I really want to help you get to those answers.  I will do this through providing you with an environment where you feel heard and understood.  

I work integratively with a Person-centred and Psychodynamic approach. This means that we will focus on whatever you feel is important to bring to our time together. I will respond to that by providing you with the right level of support and gentle challenge to work out why you feel the way you do.  We may also explore some of your past experiences to consider how they might have impacted your behaviour and relationships now.

It is important to reiterate that as a member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) I work within their code of ethics and values.

I work from a quiet and confidential practice room, which is a 5 minute walk from Goring and Streatley train station, (a 15 minute journey from Reading) and has off street parking. It also has a calming view of the surrounding countryside .

I can be flexible on a weekly basis as to how you would like to meet whether that be face to face, virtually or on the telephone, whatever provides you with a helpful experience that fits in with your life. 

I would normally suggest that we meet weekly for 50 minutes. The number of sessions you have would depend entirely on your needs, there is no minimum or maximum. We would review this roughly every 6 weeks.

I offer a free 30 minute introductory session, at this point we can both ask initial questions that will allow us to make a mutual decision as to whether working together would be helpful for you. 

If we decided to work together at our initial session, we will spend some time considering our working arrangements, this would include; cancellations, confidentiality, reviewing your experience etc so we both feel clear. We would then decide what you would like to gain from your counselling experience, this can and may well shift over time.

Please do telephone me (and leave a message if necessary) or email me on the contact details provided. I will get back to you as quickly as possible and definitely within 24 hours.