Amanda Chapman

I offer sessions Monday to Friday, daytime and early evening. 

I am an accredited Integrative counsellor and psychotherapist at Master's level delivering therapy to secondary-aged teens and adults. I primarily offer face to face session in person. Together we build skills and understanding based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Attachment Theory within a Person-Centred approach. We may draw on interventions from the Accredited Mellow Parenting and Webster Stratton Parenting. Sessions take place within a home that is welcoming and secure where I professionally and compassionately guide your exploration of the issues and experiences you bring to sessions. This is done using a range of resources looking at your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. This offers clients individual insight, greater understanding and empowerment whilst dovetailing theory with Stages of Change. Providing this individual approach, clients leave with a holistic understanding of themselves, others, and their world; informed insight at this level helps offer positive and lasting change. Drawing on this integration of theory means clients are better able to access the counselling that suits them and their needs. I’ve worked in education since the late ’80s and delivered 10 years of parenting whilst Early Years Behaviour Consultant for Derby City Council. As a psychotherapist and have worked within charities and org., supporting a wide-ranging clientele linked to age, gender, sexuality, culture, and faith. If you seek personal therapy, parenting support or supervision and want to "get started", call or email me to set up a brief phone chat before deciding on stepping into your first session.

Integrative Therapy draws on three therapeutic approaches. In my case Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Attachment Theory and Person-Centred (PC). In crude terms CBT seeks to uncover your Core Beliefs and Rules for Living whilst talking about the interplay of current and past thoughts, feeling and behaviours linked to key events and perceptions. Attachment looks at your early life experiences and interactions linked to key adults and how that created an understanding of the world around you at an early stage of development and how that speaks to you now in your relationship with yourself and others. PC places you at the centre of the therapy meaning you are given a regular and boundaries space to talk your truth because it feels safe, non-judgmental, honest, warm, and empathic.     

Before your first session, you will be emailed the Therapy Contract. This document sets out what will become the mutually agreed boundaries and conditions of the therapy on offer, alongside a confidentiality and safeguarding agreement. This contract is discussed as part of the initial session to ensure understanding and to answer any further queries and is often a path into our therapeutic chat. If you feel comfortable talking about what has brought you to therapy, then you are given the space to do that. If that does not fit with you then a gentle exercise is provided to facilitate 'opening-up. Looking at goals and expectations of therapy will also be explored together in this session in an organic way. All sessions are evaluated and used to inform the therapy. My aim is to enable the client to have a voice that is heard and thus respected in holding their value.