As a Relational Integrative Counsellor and Psychotherapist, I utilise various techniques/approaches which are flexibly tailored to your individual needs. This includes (but is not limited to) a firm base of humanistic models which include gestalt, existentialism, person-centred therapy, transactional analysis, and developmental psychotherapy incorporating an attachment focus. I also utilise cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness, dreams-based work, solution focused therapy and creative therapies.
I enjoy working with art and music in supporting clients to access their emotions and feelings and life stories. Feel free to share songs and lyrics to express what is going on for you.
My interests also include working with trauma, and supporting clients to move forward from significant life changing events. I am accredited in EMDR therapy to work more effectively with clients who hold unprocessed memories and trauma in their bodies from historic abuse/events. However, I now utilise EMDR for other presentations such as phobias, grief, life change coaching etc.
I worked in adult social care for 15 years with adults (their carers and family members) of variable ages who have enduring physical and/or mental health needs, autism, brain injuries, dementia, neurological conditions, and learning disabilities or learning difficulties. I have also previously worked for 6 years on a mental health telephone support line for individuals in crisis/distress and at suicide risk.
Sometimes people come to counselling/therapy as they are stuck in a rut, feeling unhappy or empty, and they need a safe place to explore what’s going on, to facilitate change:
‘And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom’ – Anais Nin.
Qualifications/Membership
BA Hons in Social Work at The University of York. 1st Class with Distinction.
Post Graduate Diploma in Relational Integrative Psychotherapy at SCPTI. With Distinction.
I am Accredited and Registered with the UKCP and a Member of SCPTI.
I am Accredited and Registered with the EMDR UK Association.
Other training
I have an ongoing commitment to training. Recent training includes:
‘Sarah has been a lifesaver for me. With Sarah's help I have been able to come to terms with a lifetime of emotional abuse and the impact that has had on me, and more importantly, gain an understanding of the behaviours I have shown throughout my life, in part as a result of that abuse. Through being a sympathetic and engaged listener, and often challenging when I've needed it, Sarah has helped me to discover positive aspects of me as a person and worked to develop strategies where those aspects control my choices in life. In the time I have worked with Sarah I have moved from a very dark place where I hurt those closest to me and wished harm on myself, to a place where I'm facing a future with hope and a confidence that I can live the life I want and deserve’.
‘Therapy has shifted a huge weight off my shoulders...'
'I feel that my life has been dramatically changed for the better...'
'Approachable and non-judgemental, and this has been invaluable to me'.
'I have discovered lots about myself... I feel like a new person'.
'Sarah was extremely kind, understanding and also flexible when I had to change sessions a few times at short notice. Having EMDR has completely transformed my life. Having used many kinds of treatment and coping skills in the past, I have never experienced such a massive change in my Complex PTSD as I have with EMDR'.
Scarborough, North Yorkshire
