About Linda

About  Me

Change will mean different things to people. For me change has meant a growing sense of inner balance, and a greater trust in my own ideas and feelings. Over the years I have also dropped a lot of anxiety in my relationships with others and become more relaxed and open. Other indicators of growth for me are: being aware of my feelings, my ability to respond appropriately in awkward situations by communicating fully, and more often, being able to let go of suffering and other negative feelings when the stimulus is removed, as opposed to dwelling on it for weeks afterwards.


My Training Background & Experience

I am an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor. My theoretical approach generally can be described as Humanistic, but incorporating Cognitive and Psychodynamic principles also. I have had twenty five year's experience studying the skills and theories of one form of counselling theory or another.

I have been a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) since 1988, and an accredited member of the UK Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners (UKAHPP) since Jan 2002. I am now, since 2007, a registered member of the UK Council of Psychotherapy (UKCP)- Psychotherapeutic Counselling section.

I have also taught several introductions to person-centered counselling skills for the University of Surrey Open Studies Dept. and for East Surrey College, and I have also offered various other courses privately and at various Adult Education Centres.

I became involved in counselling, therapy and the personal change and growth field in 1984. At this point I discovered Co-Counselling and trained to do it at the University of Surrey. In 1990, I took the intensive Teacher's Training workshop and the short intensive Facilitator's styles workshop at the same place. I learnt some very powerful skills and theory, which enabled me to work with and help fellow co-counsellors over the next 6 years. During this time, I also helped to teach other co-counselling fundamentals courses at the University of Reading. I subsequently taught co-counselling at various venues in Essex, Suffolk and Surrey. This tool for gaining deep and effective self help has provided a valuable grounding which I find transferable to my counselling practice.

In 1987 I discovered Psychosynthesis, which includes a spiritual dimension to the understanding of the human psyche. My interest in the spiritual element of people’s experiences encouraged me to attend other trainings in this field, including Mind Clearing (based on the yoga sutras of Patanjali’s), Buddhism and its links with Transpersonal Psychology, and The Journey, as pioneered by Brandon Bays. I also studied the Person-Centered approach, Gestalt and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).

In 2003 I completed a Diploma in Group and Individual Supervision, enabling me to assist other counsellors and psychotherapists in their work.

In 2007 I completed an M.A. degree in Psychotherapy and Healing, in which, I'm pleased to say, I gained a 'distinction' for the Dissertation. The psychotherapeutic element was influenced by the work of Dr.Carl Jung, and the health element also embraced the principles of subtle energy work found in, for example, Spiritual Healing. If you would like to see the abstract of my Dissertation, please follow this link to the BACP website: Click Here. I have also studied Reiki Seichem and Gaiadon Heart Healing, all of which add a powerful, but deeply relaxing, energetic dimension to the task of psychological change. I offer Gaiadon Heart Healing only as part of a psychotherapeutic package, following discussion with you.

As you can tell from the above, I enjoy studying. But equally, I consider it essential to continually update my knowledge so as to make all the latest ideas available to you. Currently I am updating my Couples Counselling skills and in July 2009 I completed a 6-month post-graduate certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)& Mindfulness for which, again, I was delighted to receive a 'distinction' - this time for the Case Study.