Sandra - Calmer Waters Founder
I’m a Qualified Integrative Counsellor and BACP registered
member with over fifteen years’ experience of working
with people as a counsellor. I am committed to working with
you in partnership to resolve issues and help you find ways
to move on positively in life. The key to the counselling process is that we work together and I use my experience and skills to help you to resolve any issues and find a way forward that feels right for you.
Counselling and therapy can leave positive footprints on your life and add real and lasting value to your future experiences. This process is about healing, but also learning how to move forward in your life.
It will also be possible for you to draw on learning, techniques or strategies you have acquired through therapy to manage the difficult times or situations that the future may bring.
Life can throw us unexpected challenges, so I believe in equipping you with useful ways to cope with the harder times in life in the best way for you.
I am happy to offer support for students in Bristol according to need.
I am also a career coach with over 20 years experience, working with people who have required help with career changes through choice or redundancy. I qualified in 2007 to deliver the MBTI Type Indicator, which can help you understand yourself better in terms of how you make decisions and operate in the world around you.
I am an experienced alternative therapist offering Reiki
which is a very relaxing non-invasive way of letting your
mind and body let go and find a calmer place. Reiki can
for some people be a way of de-stressing and reducing
anxiety, It is a unique experience for each person, but
always a calming one.
My earlier career was in social work, working with
children and young people who had experienced difficult or
abusive situations. I did this for a number of years and
this work was probably the reason I eventually decided to
become a counsellor.
Therapeutic approaches and techniques - the jargon
explained
I am an integrative counsellor which means I was trained
in a number of therapeutic disciplines and approaches, so
I can draw on a range of techniques and therapeutic
models, depending on what might work best for your
situation and particular issues.
Person Centred - means you are central to the
work we do and we always focus on your needs
Psychodynamic - means working with past issues
and how they impact on your present life
CBT - means challenging unhelpful thoughts and
behaviours & replacing them with positive ones
Transactional Analysis - means working with the
past, mainly your childhood, and how you have picked up
ways of thinking, almost like using an unconscious script
to live by, that may not be helpful to us in our present.
This gives you a flavour of the sort of work I do.
There is no "one size fits all" therapy so flexibility
is key to a successful outcome. We can explore
many other approaches I use if appropriate to the work
we do together.
Our first meeting
During this introductory thirty minute consultation (at a
cost of £25), we will both have the chance to get a feel
for how we will work together and discuss in brief how our
work might start.
Things I might ask you
What has brought you to counselling?
Are there any issues you wish to work on?
Have you had any counselling before?
What do you need to know?
Our meeting will be relaxed as can be and no pressure.
This is a time is for you and me to get to know each other
a little but enough for you to go away and think about
your next steps and if you want to come back and start
working with me.
My qualifications are as follows
- Diploma in Humanistic and Integrative Counselling (Bath Centre of Psychotherapy & Counselling (BCPC)
- Certified MBTI Practitioner
- Counselling Skills and Attitudes Certificate
- Life and Career Coaching Diploma
- Reiki Practitioner (qualified to Level 2)
Member of British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
Member of Counselling Directory (www.counselling-directory.org.uk)
Member of CAPPP (Counsellors and Psychotherapist in Private Practice)
