Alison McSorley

I have appointments in person and online on a Monday and a Thursday between 8.45 am - 6.30pm

Other daytime appointment availability may be available on request.

As a Humanistic Existential Counsellor I will listen to you, providing you with a warm, safe, and confidential environment in which to talk. I will help and support you, I won’t give advice or pass judgement. I provide one to one counselling in a safe and confidential environment where the counselling focuses on you and what you need, exploring your thoughts and feelings. Some people come with a very clear idea of what they believe is the cause of their distress, and others know only that their lives feel weighty and painful. In my work I understand that every individual is both unique and valuable; the issues that are brought are always important and through self awareness, working collaboratively and confidence insight and change can develop.​

My vocational training specialised with issues around domestic abuse and associated trauma, I continue to work with local agencies focusing on this area. I also work with clients experiencing a variety of concerns including - depression, loss, anxiety, bereavement, lack of motivation, relationship issues, and work-related issues. 

Additionally I work as a lecturer in Counselling at a local college, I have provided CPD for local community groups and national organisations providing training in stress management, confidence building and assertiveness. I also have experience of providing counselling for individual workplaces and am happy to discuss this as required.

I am happy to have a brief informal chat with you before starting counselling to answer any queries you may have and can arrange for sessions to be face to face or online. I work with adults and young adults who are over 16 years old. 

Each session will last 50 minutes and is normally weekly or fortnightly at the same time every week. It is entirely up to you how long you come to counselling, some people find the support they need in a few sessions and other people like to come for longer. Short term work can help with a specific issue or simply offer some support in a time of crisis. Longer term work can lead to more profound changes.

Generally, we will have chatted on the telephone before we meet face to face. In the first session we will be talking through the personal contact form, confidentiality policy as well as your own goals and hopes for therapy. We will make a contract and working agreement for meeting times and expectations. We will start to explore what has brought you to counselling. There will be time to ask questions to ensure you fully understand what counselling offers and how it could be helpful to you.

In addition, if your first session is online we will have spoken on the telephone before our first session and arranged an initial online appointment. Prior to this session you will have received an initial details form, a contract and in a separate email a link to our first appointment via a Zoom link. In the first session we will talk through these forms and how we will manage online working, specifically we will look at what happens if we lose internet connection and keeping you safe online.