Catherine Rowland

I am based at Hove Therapy Rooms.   At present I have session availability on Tuesday evenings and Friday afternoons.   

If you are interested in working with me, I am available to speak with you at times between 9-6pm Tuesday to Friday.    Feel free to drop me an email or give me a call.  If you get voicemail do leave a message and I will call you back.  

I recognize that life can feel immensely challenging at times, and believe it can really help to talk things through with the right person in a calm, confidential setting.  

I am an experienced Integrative Psychotherapist, registered with the UKCP and BACP.    I offer short and longer term counselling and psychotherapy for adults.    I am also training as an EMDR practitioner and subject to assessment, offer these sessions at a reduced cost

From 2018, I worked in various community settings, including the Mid Sussex, Horsham, East Sussex and Arun Counselling Centres. I currently work as an Integrative Psychotherapist for Psychology Sussex, Hove. I have been in private practice since 2019.

Before training as a psychotherapist I was a teacher and then had several professional roles within the health and social care sectors, working in the arts and music fields.  

MY APPROACH

I work with individuals face to face and and also have limited online availability. Central to my work is my aim to create a safe, supportive, therapeutic relationship. I do this by:

*Offering a confidential space for you to explore what you want to bring.

*Creating a respectful non-judgemental relationship which values difference and diversity. I am an LGBTQIA+ affirmative practitioner

*Bringing clarity to our initial sessions about the way I work, what I can offer you, what you might gain from the sessions.

*A commitment to listen to an understand things from your perspective. It is important that you feel heard.

*Working relationally at your pace to help you make sense of things. As in integrative practitioner, I use a range of approaches tailored to your needs.

*Valuing always your innate wisdom and strengths. Building and developing your own resources.

*Building in regular reviews, to make sure that the work continues to meet your needs.  

My style is warm, collaborative, flexible, exploratory and creative.  This means that my interest is in working with you at your own pace to help you find a meaningful way forward; something which I believe is revealed as you discover your own inner resources and creative potential.   I usually find it helpful to draw on a variety of traditions, tailoring my approach with you according to your own needs.  Those which I integrate mostly into my practice are drawn from the psycho-dynamic, humanistic and existential traditions. 

Because sometimes, it can feel hard to put words to feelings, or life feels especially overwhelming, I may also draw upon the latest trauma-informed approaches; working creatively with feelings in the body or nervous system using tools from poly vagal theory, sensory motor psychotherapy and Family Systems.   With a background in arts and music, I may also offer creative approaches, which are direct, safe ways to access buried feelings.   All these non-verbal approaches (body-based or creative), have a re-balancing effect, linking up cognitive (language-based) left-brained parts of our system, with the more sensory and feeling-based (right-brained) parts.  They help us connect in positive ways with parts of ourselves, which previously have been unknown, unacknowledged.  Inevitably this also gives us greater access to our inner calm, wisdom and potential.   Often this process unfolds naturally, as we engage in our work together, at a pace which feels right for you.  

I have particular experience working with people who experience the following:

Depression

Anxiety

Trauma (single-event, complex, PTSD)

Addictions

Loss or bereavement

Difficult life transitions

Coping with illness.

Work difficulties

Relationship issues

Feeling stuck in life, lacking purpose or meaning                     

I recognize that the hardest step is sometimes the first one.  You are welcome to drop me an email, or arrange a free no-obligation 15 minute phone call.  

If we decide to meet, I then offer two exploratory initial sessions.  These will give you a chance to share about what is troubling you and for us to decide together if and how we might then proceed.  In these initial sessions, it is helpful for me to find out about you, and so I will ask you certain information about your life.  Then at the end of the second session, I go through my terms and conditions which explain in layman's terms all about confidentiality, ethics and the practical side.  I believe the most important thing during these two sessions is that you feel heard and understood, that you leave with a sense of what our work together may be about.  You may have questions for me, which I will be happy to answer.   

I offer short and longer-term counsellling/psychotherapy.   How you may want to take things forward is your choice.  You may wish to start open-ended, ongoing work, or you may prefer to arrange something shorter term, to see how things feel.  It is common to arrange in the first instance six sessions including a review, and then decide how to proceed.   If you decide upon longer-term work, I would build in regular reviews, to make sure that it continues to feel alive, relevant for you.   

A little note about practicalities: I charge for the first session in advance.  After this, they are invoiced in the usual way.