Ruth Allen

My working days are Monday-Thursday. My availability on these days is flexible - I do my best to work around the availability of my clients.

We can all find ourselves at a point in our lives where things feel difficult. Sometimes our problems can grow so that we cannot see a way past them. I can offer you a safe space, free of judgment, to explore the things you are finding hard. Together, we can work to identify things you may want to change, or I can support you to work towards acceptance of things you may not be able to change.

I am a fully qualified, integrative counsellor, which means that I draw upon different approaches to counselling to be adaptable in the way that I work with you. I think at its heart, counselling is about two people having a conversation, in which one person is trying to understand the other. If you choose to work with me, I will listen carefully and try to understand the things you are finding difficult in your life. In the process of helping me to understand, it may be that you come to understand some things differently yourself or identify things you would like to think and talk about more. 

By supporting you in this way to explore your challenges and difficulties I can help you work towards a deeper understanding, a feeling of self-acceptance and a sense of empowerment in your life.

I work in a person-centred way - this means that I will look to be led by you and the things that you want to focus on in our sessions together. Everyone is different, with their own unique circumstances and experiences and I use different approaches to help you explore your thoughts and feelings in ways that work best for you. 

I use elements of psychodynamic therapy to think about awareness and the subconscious. Exploring things that may be just under the surface of our awareness can help us to understand  how our emotions and deep-rooted experiences may be impacting us in our lives. This can help us to make sense of things on a deeper level.

If you decide you would like to work with me, in our first session we can talk about the things you are finding it hard to deal with, what you hope to gain from counselling and look to find a way of working together where you feel supported as you work to understand things. I will go through a few questions to find out a little more about you and how your life is at the moment. 

If we decide to work together thereafter I will offer you a regular appointment, at the same time each week. I can offer face-to-face sessions, or we can have our sessions online via Zoom. My fee is £50 and the session lasts for 50 minutes. This booking is reserved for you for the duration of your counselling with me. I can work with you on a short or long-term basis, depending on what you feel is best for you.