Lisa Smith

I currently have limited weekday evening and weekend availability.

Fees per session:

Online (Zoom) £40.00 

In-person (Chatham) £40.00

In-person (London EC2) £55.00 (includes room hire cost)

I work in a way which means you'll take things at your own pace, so you won’t be expected to open up straight away (unless of course you want to).   I'll seek to understand what it's like to be you, so I’ll listen to you attentively, with understanding, empathy and without judgment, to explore your situation and feelings in a way which gets you through difficult times, brings about personal growth and develops your own self-belief, so you achieve the changes you want. This could be in your relationships, your work or social life. Or how you feel about yourself and the way you relate to others.

All that said, I’m not a counsellor who believes that your counselling objectives will be achieved by solely listening and exploring feelings. I also work collaboratively with you to come up with coping strategies, different perspectives and ideas that give you food for thought, and that can be realistically applied to your situation in a way that works best for you personally.

I offer open-ended work, so there is no limit to the number of sessions available to you.  How long a course of counselling takes varies greatly between individuals.  Some clients need only a few sessions to get what they need from counselling and others require a lot longer.  It's important that we work together at your pace .  I conduct regular informal reviews to check the extent to which you feel you're making progress, so that anything which is working well can be built on, and anything which isn't can be appropriately omitted or adjusted accordingly.  Counselling certainly is not a 'one size fits all' process, and it's vital for me (and you) to develop an understanding of what you personally need from the process in order for it to work.  

During your first session, I'll meet with you to gain a basic and broad understanding of your personal background and circumstances, what’s going on for you and what you hope to gain from counselling. This helps to ensure my skills and experience suit your needs so that we can work together effectively and safely. This initial session is also a chance for you to get a flavour of what I offer and go get a sense of whether I’m someone you’d like to work with.

I allow 75 minutes for this initial session (although it doesn't always take that long). The fee for the initial session is £40.00.