Rate Joanna Marshall

I believe counselling shouldn’t be about jargon or complicated, even when life is complicated. It’s about offering you time in your week to talk confidentially to a professionally trained person about what is going on for you. It’s about having someone to talk with who will listen without judgement and who won’t say ‘what you need to do is…or don’t be silly’. Maybe it’s something from the past which is impacting on your life now, maybe it is something in the here and now, or maybe worries about the future?

Are you feeling overwhelmed, sad, anxious, depressed or questioning aspects of your life? Are you feeling low in self-confidence or self-esteem?

Are you looking for someone to talk to, someone who will listen, someone who will ask questions to help you work things through? Someone to help you clarify and start to understand your thoughts, feelings and behaviours and to find a way to move forward?

I am an Integrative Counsellor – this means that I was trained in a number of approaches and using my learning and experience can offer you mixture of these in our work together depending on your needs. One size definitely does not fit all. During a session it might be that we explore your thoughts or behaviours using CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy); relationships using Psychodynamic Theory; feelings using Person Centred Counselling; or potential solutions to a problem using Solution Focused Therapy. I may offer you some practical tools or strategies to try between sessions, but you are the expert on you and I will not tell you what do or think.

Alongside my private practice, I work on a self-employed basis as a counsellor for a charity which supports those who have experienced domestic abuse/violence or family violence. I was previously employed as a counsellor in a residential setting where the majority of clients had experienced adverse experiences in their childhood or trauma as adults. As part of this role, I also developed and delivered a weekly self-esteem group.

I am a Registered Member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy) – this gives you assurance that I work in an ethical way, have regular professional supervision and keep up to date with my own professional development and training.