Finder

Specialises in

• Counselling

Offers

• Face-to-face consultations
• Video and telephone consultations

About me

I can offer you a safe, confidential space where you feel at ease to explore the experiences which are troubling you and identify what your needs are and what must change. My focus is on enabling you to understand and be compassionate towards your experience, even towards those parts of you that you dislike or are afraid of.

I draw on a mix of my original training in Person-centred and Psychodynamic counselling practice and more recent training in Internal Family Systems Therapy. What I offer is tailored to the unique needs of each person I work with.

We can work short term (4-6 sessions), focussing on a specific issue and taking practical, solution-focussed approaches to address it. I also enjoy working longer term with experiences which are more complex, enabling long-term enduring change.

My passion is to enable clients to feel in healthy control of their feelings both inside and outside the counselling room. I have substantial experience of working with younger adults, aged 16-25. This mid to late stage of adolescence into adulthood is hugely pressured for young people and there are necessary but painful periods of becoming stuck, hitting dead ends and not quite knowing who you are. It is such a privilege to accompany young people as they find their way as adults.

I also enjoy working through major life changes with older adults. We don't always have the freedom in our younger years to discover who we might be. We may feel equally lost at 52 or 82.

Areas of interest

anxiety;depression;addiction;relationship difficulties;blocks to progress in life;life transitions;managing overwhelming emotions;low self-esteem;loss and grief;abuse;trauma and PTSD;Dissociative disorders including hearing voices;I work with young people over the age of sixteen

Medical secretaries

• Medical Secretary to Mrs Smith
• Fairbairn House 1 Court Street Haddington EH41 3JD
• 07966 694617
• valeriesmithcounselling@protonmail.com