HOW I WORK | MEREDITH COUNSELLING

How I work

Choosing who you want to work with is an important and personal choice. It is important that you feel able to trust and build a relationship with your counsellor as well as that you feel the particular approach of the therapeutic counsellor is one that suits you.

We will work together on whatever goals, aims or hopes you bring. Through the relationship we build we will tend to and explore what is calling for your attention.

I work with women over 18 years of age.

I usually provide open-ended counselling (counselling that has no specific end date) but also work on a short-term basis (8 - 12 sessions) depending on your needs, hopes and goals.

I work holistically, meaning I tend to your body, heart, mind, spirit and soul and use a range of approaches.

Further information about the way I work is below.

Integrative

I work using an integrative approach, which means I am able to make use of seeing through a variety of lenses (Gestalt, Psychodynamic, Jungian, Somatic, Relational, Archetypal, Attachment) to help us in our exploration and depending on your needs.

Embodied

Our bodies are wise. If we listen closely enough we can hear them speaking and offering us crucial information. Old hurts and traumatic life events are remembered by the body and can leave us experiencing distressing symptoms. It may not feel safe to be present in our bodies. It may feel strange, uncomfortable or painful.

Furthermore, the world we live in disconnects us from our body and soul and can leave us living in our heads. Perhaps when we stop for a moment we may realise just how exhausted we are and that we have been taking our body for granted.

By slowing down, listening closely, and tuning into what we may be sensing in our body we can gradually develop more awareness of our feelings; our likes, dislikes and what is ok for us and what is not (boundaries). We can begin to find our voice and the courage to speak up. The memories our bodies hold can help bring old hurts and stories into our awareness so that we may feel and process them and then do something or think something different.

We may begin to realise that it is the body which tames the mind. Eventually we may begin to trust that it is a safe place to be and that our body is our rightful home. Returning to the body helps us get to know ourselves more deeply. By feeling more ‘comfortable in our own skin’ we can also help ourselves live with more grace, joy, pleasure and ease.

I facilitate a gradual cultivating of the somatic sense. My approach is underpinned by a trauma-informed and nervous system lens.

Relational

We are often wounded in our earliest relationships, and it is the healthy, safe relationships in the present, such as the one we can build in our sessions together, that can help us heal. With care and respect, I pay attention to what is happening in the sessions between us as this can help inform us about your relationship with yourself, others and the world around you.

Transpersonal

I also pay attention to that which is beyond the personal, to what connects us to the bigger world, to aspects of the social, cultural, ecological, mythological, ancestral, spiritual and dream worlds. By slowing way down and listening, we naturally invite soul, knowing that this can often get lost in the ‘outside world’.

Nature can be a healing resource and a helpful guide. We may find ways to resource ourselves and feel supported in nature. Nature often soothes our souls and can connect us back to the sense of being part of an interconnected web of life. We may find animal companions easier than human ones. We may look to nature as bringing messages, offering us guidance or being a mirror for our own internal states and cycles.

I also hold space for the wisdom and messages of the other-than-human world to accompany us in our explorations. I honour the darkness, the shadows and the depths, knowing that it is from these broken places, from the hard work and toil in the mess, that we can find the light and the gold.

I welcome creativity in any form you feel comfortable with: you can bring your drawings, dreams, poetry, imagination, music, and art, knowing that these parts of you are precious, valuable and can be immensely helpful on the journey.

Stories

I believe that having someone listen to our stories with compassion is incredibly powerful and transformative. We are narrative creatures, which means we make sense of things through the stories we tell ourselves. Sometimes we get stuck telling ourselves old, unhelpful stories that may no longer be useful. Together we can re-vision these stories to create a new one. We may also find familiar stories and myths that may be helpful reference points on our journey together.

Imagination

Sometimes it is helpful to recruit the imagination to imagine a better life for ourselves or imagine what it feels like to be well. We may imagine what our symptoms may be trying to tell us. Our imagination can also lead us to our inner seeing, knowing and wisdom.