Rachel Freeth

Rachel Freeth


Registered Member MBACP

Contact information

Phone number
07951715398

Contact Rachel


The information outlined in this listing is not to be used for advertising or marketing purposes.

Therapist - Stroud

Stroud GL5
07951715398
Sessions from £60.00

Features

Availability

I provide 60 minute sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays (day time and evening) and Thursday daytime.  My preference is for weekly sessions on a set day and time, but at times it may be possible to see people less frequently, e.g. fortnightly.

About me and my therapy practice

Good listeners are rare. Also rare is someone who can listen from a deep and broad understanding. 

I have both a background working within NHS mental health services as a psychiatrist for over 25 years, and as a person-centred therapist for almost the same length of time. Listening has therefore been the core of my working life and it has given me an understanding of the range of hurts, disturbance and distress people can experience, as well as the diverse social and cultural contexts from which these arise.

The therapy I provide is informed by my training in the person-centred approach. This approach assumes that human beings have a natural capacity to grow and develop within favourable conditions and relationships. I therefore place a key emphasis on the quality of the therapeutic relationship, regarding this as a crucial element in healing, and as such I aim to offer a warm understanding (empathy) and authenticity. When this is received people may experience greater self-understanding, acceptance, compassion and a sense of deeper meaning and purpose, from which other transformation may occur. 

To me, therapy at its best is a collaborative, unfolding process in which we share the work together, and I believe in the value of trusting clients to take the lead on what to explore and focus on.

Practice description

I believe the way I work can be helpful for a wide range of issues, difficulties and forms of distress and I am often able to work with people whose distress and difficulty may be particularly severe and complex. I do not 'treat' diagnoses or symptoms, but I can bring to my work my knowledge and experience of psychiatry (and medicine generally) and mental healthcare settings (in particular the NHS), including how such experiences for some people may not have been helpful or perhaps even harmful. 

I am particularly interested in how people come to make sense of things for themselves and what they discover can be a strength and help. I also view body, mind and soul as an integrated whole and I try to be open to many perspectives and paths to understanding, which includes spiritual dimensions of experience.

I work with individual, adult clients and also trainee counsellors and psychotherapists. Particular areas I can work with include

- Loss and grief

- Struggle with emotions, mood and anxiety

- Relationship difficulties and concerns

- Sexuality and issues related to gender

- Life transitions and facing important decisions

- Questions of meaning, purpose and identity

- Spiritual and religious questions and concerns


Please see my website which describes in more detail my values and attitudes, what I bring to my therapy work, as well as more about my background.  It is also possible to download an information sheet which provides more detail about my practice and terms of agreement. I also detail other areas of my work and my publications (books, chapters and papers).

My first session

Many people know the reason(s) why they are seeking therapy, but for others it is not very clear what they either want or need and it may take time for this to emerge. 

In our first session we will explore what the focus of our work might be and we can get a sense of what meeting together might feel like. There is no obligation to arrange any further sessions after this initial meeting.

Types of therapy

Humanistic, Person centred, Relational

Clients I work with

Adults, Older adults, Trainees

How I deliver therapy

Long term sessions, Long-term face-to-face work, Online therapy, Short term sessions, Short-term face-to-face work, Telephone therapy

Languages spoken

English