Paul Thorley-Ryder

I am available from 0930am to 1930pm Monday to friday at present. Availabilty for evening appointments varies dependent on availabity and although I can offer this, it is subject to occasional disruption due to existent commitments and I cant guarantee a weekly slot at exactly the same time / same evening.

I am qualified, accredited and experienced in working with people going through different kinds of pain.

Counselling:  As an accredited counsellor, I have been giving space for people to speak their truth, and explore their feelings and experiences to find more peace. As an accredited person-centred counsellor, I work towards fully understanding you.

I also use gestalt informed therapy, focusing on relational and experiential approaches, alongside talking therapy. I might introduce more creative ways of working if you are interested, for example, using drawings, music and role plays.

CBT: As an accredited CBT therapist, I can help you connect how your thoughts, behaviours and emotions are connected and how they can sometimes contribute to your feeling bad. Together we come up with experiments and ideas to test out more helpful ways of dealing with your difficulties. This can be a fascinating and creative approach.

EMDR - As an accredited practitioner, I can help you process memories that are stuck in your system and showing up now, often as anxiety or low mood or nightmares, and a feeling of having to watch for danger at every point. EMDR is an evidence based memory approach that works with past, present and future to help you overcome the horrible feelings you have now. It has 8 phases, some of which use eye movements or tapping to help your brain process things that were too much to take in at the time.

Maybe you don’t why you feel so bad, you just know you haven’t felt right for some time. Maybe you’ve tried to help yourself, even had therapy, but it’s still so hard. Or maybe this is the first time you’ve looked for a therapist and it’s overwhelming. I understand how hard this can be and I want you to know I can help you feel safe, heard and supported as we discover what you need to move through the difficulties you feel right now.

I continue to do professional training with BABCP, BACP, EMDR AssociationUK,  to continually improve my skills, in addition to engaging in music, art and drama to incorporate a way of working that goes beyond talking.

Your first session is an opprtunity to tell me what your needs and aims are from the sessions. If you have a goal or something particular you wish to focus on, this is the time to let me know so I can ensure you get what you want. I wont ask you to fill out any clinical measures initially (but we can use them if you wish)

I will provide you with full information about confidentiality, and ask you to sign a document showing that you consent to me making notes, and are aware of how this will be handled securely. This doesnt bind you to coming to further sessions and you can terminate therapy whenever you wish.

I will ask you for your address, contact details and GP information, and any medication you are taking. If you've had any therapy before, I'd like to ask you about it so that I can offer the most beneficial service I can, and not go over things you may have covered already.

Keeping you safe is paramount and a standard of professional practice, I will ask that we discuss anything that presents a risk to you or others so we can find ways together that support your safety and wellbeing whilst you work with me. 

The first session is charged at my normal rate. If you want to meet me before starting sessions, we can have a free of charge short chat for upto 15 minutes via phone or Online video to check that you feel I am the right fit for you as a person and as a therapist. 

I provide online Counselling supervision / clinical supervision

if you are interested in a change in the way you reflect on your self as a therapist, or your methodology and practice issues as a therapist, why not try a different way? I am trained in traditional as well as more creative methods of clinical supervision and would love to offer you a different perspective on how to process and reflect on your professional practice

I continue to do professional training with BABCP, BACP, EMDR AssociationUK, to continually improve my skills, in addition to engaging in music, art and drama to incorporate a way of working that goes beyond talking. I access regular supervision of supervision with a senior accredited BACP supervisor.

I trained in counselling supervision at the University of York St John in 2015 and since then I have enjoyed working in supervision with many counsellors, CBT therapists and EMDR practitioners in voluntary placements, students and trainee counsellors (including the provision of reports for Universities), clinicians working in the NHS, and other oganisations and businesses, and counsellors and therapists in private practice. My counselling supervision approach is humanistic in structure, adhering to the Hawkins and Shohet model. I can also work using cyclical / learning models and supervise therapists delivering CBT who like to use CTSR reflective systems.

If you work with me in supervision, I will ask you about your place of work, and employer if you work for an organisation. I will ask if you have any other supervision arrangeents in place, and together we can construct a supervision agreement to meet your requirements and professional obligations dependent on your accrediting body and your hours worked. I will support your wellbeing and professional development as you use supervision to reflect on your experiences with clients and the issues you choose to bring to supervision, following your agenda.