Hannah Richardson Therapy and Counselling

MBACP, BSc Humanistic Counselling, BACP-accred Couns Dip

Why come to therapy?

My clients often come to counselling when their way of being in the world is breaking down. They may want support in alleviating their distress and new ways to move forward, or to understand why they feel anxious, angry, depressed or alone.

Whether it is the habitual patterns born of conditioning or unprocessed past trauma pushing a bony finger into the present, these experiences and their impact can be unravelled and overcome in counselling.

Self-exploration in the presence of empathic, non-judgemental, but informed, other can create a kind of magic which brings choices and options where before there were only obligations or dead ends.

"I should" can become "I can if I want to", and those automatic "yesses" can become self-preserving, authentic "no's" and vice versa. Counselling for anxiety, depression and trauma can in time bring peace of mind. Fears and barriers can be overcome by taking small steps which may, in time, lead to a revolution in the self.

What do we do in therapy?

At a very basic level you bring the issues you want to work through and I listen with an empathic expert ear.

As an integrative humanistic therapist I believe that the answers to your difficulties are there inside of you to be discovered.

I will just help you find them.

I may have expertise in the theoretical sense, but you are the expert on your own life and we will work as a team to find understanding.

I am qualified in and draw from the major humanistic schools of counselling and psychotherapy: Person-centred (Feeling focussed), Gestalt ( body-focussed) and Transactional Analysis ( head focussed)

But I also work in a trauma-informed way and have a special interest in attachment - the relational patterns we form with our primary care givers - and how these affect our relationships with other people, the workplace and all sorts of things.

I am likely to invite you to get in touch with your inner child and to ask you what information your body and your feelings are giving you. It might sound strange at first but it can be very effective in discovering your truth.

I will encourage you to be as reflective and self-aware as you can be.

My promise to you

I will work with you safely and ethically at your pace.

I will treat you with respect and dignity, and as a straight, white, female therapist, I will respect differences between us in culture, ethnicity, social class and sexuality.

I will maintain client confidentiality.

I adhere to the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy Code of Ethics and am a registered member of the BACP.

I am supervised by an experienced supervisor who monitors my client work. This is a standard ethical practice within the bounds of confidentiality.

I am committed to continual professional development and invite feedback from my clients.

I store all data in line with GDPR rules and privacy laws and destroy the data I hold when it is no longer required for client work.

If you come to work with me, you will find a mature therapist who has done, and continues to do, the psychological work on myself required in order to be of service.

Feel free to get in touch with any questions you may have.