Arabella Russell

I currently have availability for new clients - both couples and individuals

I am an experienced and well qualified counsellor and psychotherapist offering support to couples and individuals across Surrey and Sussex.

I worked as a Relate counsellor for eight years and was a national spokesperson on relationship issues for the charity across newspapers, television and radio. I am now a spokesperson for the BACP. 

I am currently completing an advanced qualification in psychosexual therapy which enables me to work with all aspects of sexual difficulty.

 Issues around sex and intimacy can be the hardest topics to raise - for couples and for individuals. Opening up that conversation with a trained therapist can lead to powerful change.  

Feeling secure, happy and connected in ourselves and within our adult intimate relationships is crucial to our physical and emotional well being.

I see individuals who are experiencing sadness, loneliness, depression, anger, major life change, stress and anxiety, low self-esteem and loss or bereavement.  Exploring these issues with an experienced counsellor can offer great relief as well as providing insight and understanding about how to manage things differently.

With couples, my expertise lies in helping them to address areas of pain, conflict and unhappiness. These can include feelings around emotional disconnection, lack of intimacy, the aftermath of an affair, a build up of resentment and endless repeated arguments.

Often the way we are feeling in ourselves and behaving with our partners can have its roots in our histories. It can be useful to explore these earlier experiences and to think about how they might be affecting us as individuals and how they they might be playing out in our intimate relationships. It can be tempting to blame our partner for all the problems in the relationship – but much more useful to ask the question, ‘what are we both contributing?’

My role as a counsellor isn’t to solve your problems or to give you advice. Equally, I can’t change or eradicate a difficult past or a painful loss. However, giving you a confidential space to talk, to explore your thoughts and feelings and to feel properly heard and understood can help to facilitate a different future for yourself and for your relationship. 

Counselling can also help couples to separate. It can be tough, painful work to both end and accept the ending of a relationship. Counselling won’t take away the pain of the loss but it will provide a safe space to think about why things haven’t worked out and to consider the most constructive ways of moving forward, particularly if there are children involved.