David Spivey

My core practice hours are:

Monday: 9am-5pm

Tuesday: 9am-5pm

Wednesday: 9am-5pm

You are the focus of our work together and at a core level know what you need. Whilst this may not be clear at the outset due to many reasons such as trauma, anxiety, relationships, loss, worries and concerns, over time I will support you to reframe, reimagine and view your life through a fresh set of eyes. I will challenge your thoughts and habits where they are restrictive or keeping you in patterns of behaviour that keep you stuck in situations that you would like to change.

You will gain the confidence, insights and self worth to start creating the life that you want. It will take time, commitment, effort and desire on your part, and you may need to go backwards before going forward. However you will not be alone, I will support you, as I have done many people like you, on your journey for as long as you need me. 

I will tailor my approach and support to your needs and I will create a safe place where we can trust each other, and you can share your thoughts and feelings. We will work at a pace that is comfortable for you. 

It will be a space that you can express emotion and feeling even the difficult ones like anger and vulnerability without being judged, shamed or made to feel that it is wrong or inappropriate. You will have the potential to learn a new way of being in a relationship.

We will discuss tools and techniques that can support you in between our sessions. These may include setting boundaries in your life, mindfulness techniques, learning listening and communication skills that will help you in your relationships, and ways to build your confidence.

My clients over many years have used words such as insightful, practical, supportive, warm, grounded, empathic and even earthy!

My core practice and specialism is working with men at transition points in their life. This is men in their 20's setting out in life making the choices they need in relation to career and relationship. It is men in their 30's, 40's and 50's experiencing the mid-life transition and all the questions that arise. Such as what have I done with my life? What now? Where now? These are challenging times but can be rich with possibilities and opportunities for a fuller expression of who you are. Can you live a more authentic life, and what does that look like for you?

I also have a passion of working with couples and supporting them to communicate more effectively and work through the difficulties and challenges once the honeymoon period is over. This offers the potential to learn true intimacy, connection and depth within their relationship. Something many people long for.

A few basic practicalities on how I work:

I will respond to your communications in a timely manner addressing your queries and questions in an open and transparent way. I will turn up to our scheduled sessions.

I will regularly check in with you to ensure that our work is meeting your expectations and hopes and make any adjustments as are practical and supportive of you.

I am based in the rural North East of Scotland and work with clients face to face and online. My online clients are based in the UK and Europe.

As an accredited counsellor with the BACP, an affiliate counsellor with organisations such as Axa and Nuffield I conduct myself in a professional manner. I agree with and abide by the BACP Code of Ethics that hold us in our therapeutic relationship.

In many respects I have two core conditions for our work together; you turn up to our scheduled session and you pay me. Everything else is negotiable!

At the first session there will be a small amount of admin. This will be to; for example confirm contact details, whether you have had therapy before, any medication, and your sleep patterns. This, usually takes no longer than 10 minutes. There will be no assessment forms or documents for you to complete.

The session is then open for you to share your current situation, the areas that you would like support and your hopes and expectations for our work together. This helps us create a focus, over time this may and usually does change but we have to start somewhere!

I will listen to your story making any interventions that I feel will help me and you to understand your situation more fully and what you are asking of our time together. For example you may overtly ask to be challenged on your thinking and actions, or let me know that a part of your story is too painful to explore at this time but it is your intention to do so in the future.

The first session is very much about us getting to know each other and deciding how we can work together, and importantly how I can support you to achieve your objectives and hopes for therapy.

At the end of the session we will discuss how you would like to proceed. This would be when we agree dates and times, regularity of sessions, payment, and how many sessions we initially contract to.