Victoria Fear

I currently work Monday and Tuesday close to Central Bristol.

I am now working on a Thursday and Friday in Clevedon opposite the Salthouse fields near the Marine Lake

I am a down to earth and approachable counsellor for children, young people and adults with over 27 years experience working with young people. I currently work for a Bristol based charity as well as running a private practice.

I am experienced in working with abuse and CPTSD and my work is trauma informed. I have also worked for many years with ADHD and Autism. Overlapping symptoms and a difficulty in gaining assessments for ADHD and Autism can make things seem impossible at times. I work with everyone on an individual basis, taking into account differing neurological needs.

People experience trauma, anxiety and depression in different ways so each client will find their own path towards recovery. Using an integrated approach, I draw on different techniques to help you move forward.

Work with young people

I have experience of working with children and young people on a variety of issues including anxiety, school refusal, depression and trauma responses.

I am non judgemental, working to explore and understand the emotions and feelings behind difficult behaviours. This helps us to find the right approach to break own damaging cycles and build confidence to move forward.

I use talking therapy as well as a range of creative techniques (including sand tray, writing, art, puppets, sensory toys and EFT) to fit with each young person's likes and needs.

Work with adults

I also offer counselling to adults and have experience of working with anxiety, depression, complex PTSD, long term illness, relationship issues, family issues, LQBTQ+ issues and loss of confidence.

I work collaboratively to gain insight into the needs and wishes, of each client. We will develop a path for exploration together to process difficult or challenging emotions, managing triggers, learn coping skills  and reduce anxiety and depression.

I work in an open, friendly, nonjudgmental way to build trust and create a safe space where clients can be themselves and focus solely on their needs.

Every client is different, has different needs and works in different ways, responding to different techniques. My job is to help you explore what it is you would like to make sense of and suggest a range of techniques to help with this.

For some people, talking things through, being heard and validated is needed. I will provide a safe space for you to unpack and explore whilst being mindful to avoid retraumatisation. I will use psychoeducation to help guide you and encourage you to make sense of often confusing and difficult situations. It may be that you prefer to just talk or we can use a timeline to highlight key events or periods of time which may still be affecting you. We can also use a bodymap to highlight what you are feeling or struggling with, connecting this to your responses, behaviours, thoughts and worries.

For others, revisiting the traumatic event or period is not useful. This can be too difficult or upsetting. We would use different techniques to help manage anxiety, depression or confusion and to process trauma. I use talk therapy, art therapy, writing, sand tray, Emotional Freedon Technique (tapping) and somatic healing to help with this.

The therapuetic journey is not always straight forward and for many clients, I will provide a mixture of the two approaches. One thing which will be consistent throughout any approach we use is that the space we are in will be calm, safe and well held. I will also offer to share my experince and knowledge to help you make sense of things. We will look at techniques which may work for you you are able to manage your anxiety, depression or trauma responses in between sessions with a view to long term, you feeling more confident and emotionally resilient.

I initially offer a no obligation free intorductory call via Zoom, or telephone if you prefer. This will give us a chance to connect to see if you feel I would be a good match for what you are looking for therapuetically. This will also give me some ideas to bring to the first session which may be helpful.

If you decide to go ahead with therapy then I will send you a contract to read and sign and I will also email details of the practice, where to go, parking etc.

In our first session, we will discuss your counselling contract to ensure you feel happy and safe in the therapy.

We will then discuss your therapeutic goals if you have any or things you would like to explore. I will be asking you questions about how you see and experience the world. It is impotant for me to understand things from your perspective as much as possible as your day to day experiences will affect the way you feel and respond to things.

By the end of the first session we should have an understanding of how we will be working together. We will also discuss how often you would like to review the work we are doing, this will help me to ensure that sessions are useful and the right way of working at that time. If, for any reason you don't feel it's going in the right direction, we can discuss at any time and look at alternatives.