Rachel Phillips

I have been working as an integrative person-centered counsellor with adults and young people for nearly ten years in private practice with experience of working within a community outreach counselling team and as a secondary school counsellor. 

I am also currently running a workplace-based counselling service within local industry.

I have a background in physical therapies and an ongoing interest in Somatic work and how Trauma throughout our lives manifests in the body. I work with a holistic Trauma informed approach and awareness of you as an individual, seeing you within the unique context of the life you inhabit.

Most of us at some point in our lives are challenged by difficult life events and situations, relationship issues and negative self- limiting thought patterns and beliefs. It can be hard to handle the emotions that arise and we may feel misunderstood or alienated from those around us, needing a place in which to be heard and supported.

Finding a therapist that you like, feel at ease with and accepted by, just as you are, is an essential part of establishing a collaborative relationship within which you feel safe and can work to explore, understand and heal what is preventing you from living your life to the fullest.

A valuable and integral part of my training was extensive personal therapy and I remember how daunting it can feel to take the first step in opening up what we have often worked so hard to manage or suppress. I will do my best to put you at ease and my hope is that whatever brings you for counselling you no longer feel that you have to struggle alone with it.

I am a qualified, experienced, registered, fully insured counsellor, committed to working in line with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Ethical Framework. I have regular supervision and engage in continuing professional development.

You are at the heart of the work we will do together. I work in an integrative psychotherapeutic way which means that I may incorporate theories and techniques from other modalities, in response to your particular issues and needs, in order to reach the best outcome for you. I am committed to supporting you to work towards growth and healing and to alleviating suffering, however that manifests in your life. 

I will endeavor to facilitate a trusting, confidential and therapeutically valuable relationship, within which you can feel empathically understood and supported without judgement, accompanied as we work together to understand where you find yourself. To question and gain insights into whatever internal discomfort you are feeling and to empower you to use these insights for positive and lasting change, whatever that looks like for you.

I offer short and long term counselling face to face or online.

I currently work from counselling rooms in central Wells and Wedmore.