Steven Smyth-Bonfield

I am an integrative counsellor based in Teignmouth, Devon with more than a decade of clinical experience. My aim is to support my clients’ well-being and growth by nurturing their emotional awareness, resilience and confidence. I believe counselling is for everyone and whatever challenges and troubles my clients face I endeavour to create a supportive, gentle and effective place for them to face them. In my practice I see adults of all ages dealing with many kinds of difficulties and it is my role to give each of them the most empathy, honesty and compassionate regard I can. 

Over the years I have amassed experience working with people of all ages and backgrounds. I welcome and enjoy working with people from the LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent communities especially. Since the beginning of my practice I have worked online, both within the UK and internationally, with people from many different countries, cultures, ethnicities and religions and I have a strong understanding of how our intersectional experiences affect our lives and relationships.

I work with many clients who are struggling with the effects of trauma and I use 'Trauma-Informed' methods rooted in an understanding of how our brains respond to difficult events and situations. My aim is not simply to help my clients understand and come to terms with their past but to help them live more comfortably with the enduring legacy of trauma and its everyday effects.

My Integrative training means that I have a broad range of theoretical perspectives and practical counselling skills to offer my clients, in order to tailor the work I do with them as closely as possible to their individual needs. It is my job to create an environment of empathy, non-judgement and honesty in which my clients and I can look at their difficulties in a space that is safe enough to do so.

When we have difficult feelings, when bad things have happened, when we are unsure, ill at ease or troubled within ourselves, counselling can be the help we need. Counselling helped me when I doubted anything could. I am now an Integrative counsellor (Adv. Dip. Integrative Counselling, 2009), with more than a decade of experience in full-time private practice.