Rate Jackie Garratt

Hi, I’m Jackie, an experienced Counsellor and Life Coach. I’m passionate about working with people to regain good mental health and wellbeing, supporting you to ‘grow through, what you go through’.

Whatever you’re facing that is making it harder for you to experience life without pain, anxiety, stress or sense of value and purpose, I’m here to listen and help you navigate your way through.

By providing a non-judgmental, therapeutic, confidential space, you will find the sense of safety and support you need to explore your life and things that are important to you. We will work together to build your understanding of what you are feeling and why, and help you find your own way of moving forward from where you are now, to where you would like to be.

So, whatever the reason is that has prompted you to explore further support, whether that is:

• Struggling to know who you are or be the person you once were

•. Experiencing triggers and flashbacks that cause extreme distress or feelings of detachment

•. Avoiding people and situations because of overpowering emotional and physical responses

•. Feeling stuck in spiraling thought patterns and unhelpful behavior that impact your health and wellbeing

•. Constantly battling critical internal dialogue that affects your confidence and ability to trust your own judgement.

•. Experiencing difficulties in managing stress, expectations and finding balance in life

• Finding it hard to cope with a planned or unplanned change in family, relationships, work or health

• Or perhaps you have exhausted your own ways of coping and don’t know what else to do?

If this sounds like something you are currently experiencing, you may find counselling is the right step for you. Finding the right counsellor is so important, so I hope that by sharing more about myself, it might help you decide if you feel I might be the right person to work with you.

I am a professionally qualified Counsellor registered with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. I have completed additional training, post qualifying, including specialist counselling to work with young people as well as training to work with survivors of sexual violence. More recently, I qualified as a Life Coach, which enables me to offer additional ways of working with clients, especially when addressing mind sets and limiting self-beliefs.

You will find me to be a naturally warm and down to earth person with a calm, compassionate manner that will help you feel at ease and accepted. I am creative and flexible in the way I work and can offer many approaches so each session can be tailored to best suit you. I integrate various models of therapy with my main Person-Centred approach, including CBT and Solution Focused Brief Therapy.

Before becoming a Counsellor and Life Coach, I worked extensively in communities supporting children, adults and families for many years. I have previous experience as a Youth and Support worker, Foster Carer and Women’s Project Coordinator providing specialised support to women who have experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault and childhood trauma.

My experience and training provides a solid base to work with individuals of all ages. I understand how difficult childhood experiences impact child development and behaviour, affecting families and also adults later on in life. I’ve found that my understanding of children and young people is also valuable to parents who are undergoing particular parenting challenges.

Other experience includes working with individuals affected by a wide range of life issues, complex mental health conditions, personality disorders, Autism, ADHD and chronic health conditions. For those who would like to include their Christian faith in their counselling sessions, I am able to offer Christian counselling, but also work with those of a variety of beliefs or no faith background.