Micheál Duffy

I currently have availability on Tuesday mornings, Tuesday evenings and Thursday afternoons/early evenings.

Hello, I'm Micheál (pronounced mee-hol, pronouns they/them/theirs) and I'm a qualified counsellor based in Glastonbury, Somerset. I have particular experience in working with LGBTQ+ people, both actively exploring their gender and sexuality in counselling or just having a counsellor who understands LGBTQ+ experiences. I have also worked with many neurodivergent clients. My background is in working with children and families, with experience of working with care experienced young people. However, alongside this I have experience of working with people with a wide variety of issues, read more about my experience below. I offer a space for compassionate and non-judgmental therapy online or in Glastonbury, Somerset. I can also offer outdoor therapy for those that would prefer not to have therapy in a traditional therapy room session.

My approach to counselling aims to provide a safe and supportive space to help you understand your thoughts, feelings and experiences, gaining a deeper understanding about yourself and empowering you to grow where you feel you would like to make a change. Sometimes people come to counselling to process a recent major life change, sometimes to talk through immediate worries/issues and other people recognise a need to explore more longstanding issues. 

My core approach is in person-centred counselling which believes that you are best placed to come to an understanding of your experience and identify the changes you would like to make in your life. I aim to provide a trusting relationship where you can feel heard, understood, and empowered to accept yourself and your experiences. My role is to help you in navigating different ways of understanding your thoughts, feelings and experiences. We can work together towards changes that you feel you would like to make in life.

At times, I may use tools and ideas from other approaches to help you to explore things in different ways. I have had training in other humanistic approaches including Transactional Analysis and Motivational Interviewing. Occasionally, I can you find and understand tools to help make more immediate changes to your life. Additionally, you may like to explore using art, journalling or other methods to assist with the counselling process. I will always try to work with you to find out what works best for you in counselling, regularly checking in about how the process of counselling is working for you.

Starting counselling can be daunting, I am happy to have a free 15 minute initial telephone call so we can get to know each other and talk a bit more about what to expect from counselling. This can help us decide if we are a good fit for working together.

After this, our first session can take place either online, at my therapy room or outdoors. In the first session, we will spend more time talking about what you would like to talk about in counselling and talking through our counselling contract. Sessions usually take place weekly for 50 minutes but I can work with clients at other intervals or in longer sessions depending on the client's individual needs.