Abbey Brocklehurst

Hi, my name is Abbey. I am a fully qualified and experienced person-centred counsellor/psychotherapist dedicated to supporting individuals through their personal growth and healing journeys. I am happy you've taken the first step to starting your therapeutic process: finding a therapist/counsellor. So, choosing the right counsellor for you can be complicated and overwhelming with so many mental health professionals offering a variety of talking therapies with various qualifications, so I thought I would explain a little bit about me and my background to hopefully help you decide if I am a good fit for you.

When I was younger, I went through my own experiences of battling mental health, which led me to seek out personal therapy; I was lucky enough to have a therapist who helped me find myself again. Coming out the other end of my struggles, I decided I wanted to help those in a similar place. I believe my own experiences in mental health have given me the ability to have a deeper level of empathy, patience, and acceptance with my clients. Opening up and being heard and understood by another person can bring relief. You don't have to struggle alone.

We all experience times of difficulty in our lives when events or relationships feel overwhelming, or we can feel a loss of direction or purpose; any reason is valid to enter therapy. My role as a person-centred therapist is not to offer advice or tell you what you should or shouldn't do like others in your life may do. Instead, I work collaboratively with clients to help them gain insight into their challenges and support them in their journey by offering a safe, non-judgmental, confidential space to explore their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. I strive to create a trusting and supportive relationship with my clients based on empathy, respect, and authenticity. This relationship forms the foundation for our work together, allowing clients to feel comfortable opening up and exploring their concerns.

Before the first full-length session, I offer a free 20-minute consultation to introduce ourselves. This consultation allows you to ask any questions you may have about me and how I work to ensure I am the right therapist for you.​

If you decide to continue with me, our first session will be spent getting to know you better. I will ask for some basic details and then open up the conversation to get an overview of what you want from counselling and set some counselling aims. Only some people know what they would like to focus on at the beginning, so don't worry if you're unsure. My counselling contract is open-ended and tailored to you; therefore, you can have as few or as many sessions as you feel are appropriate.

It is very important that you feel comfortable in counselling. A crucial part of starting counselling is understanding the confidentiality you can expect from me as your counsellor and the boundaries around our sessions. We will discuss confidentiality as part of your initial session.​ I always adhere to the BACP ethical code of conduct, which means I put clients first, work to professional standards, show respect, build appropriate relationships, maintain integrity, and demonstrate accountability, amongst other things.