LOCATION: Central Brighton and online (wheelchair accessible room with free parking available)
AVAILABILITY: Wednesday daytimes and evenings. Online available by arrangement
PRICE: £60 per session (free 20 min initial consultation)
SPECIALISMS:
Identity and self-esteem
Trauma
Anxiety and depression
Bereavement and loss
Family difficulties
Health-related anxiety
Life changes
Managing difficult feelings
Relationship difficulties
Sexual or domestic abuse
Spirituality
Stress
Work-related concerns

Training

Jenny is a BACP accredited Counsellor, which is a quality standard for experienced counsellors and psychotherapists. She has an MSc in Therapeutic Counselling and works integratively, which means that she combines key therapeutic approaches (humanistic, psychodynamic and CBT) to fit the individual she is working with. She is relational and works holistically, thinking about the whole person, not just whatever specific issues they are bringing to therapy. Since her initial qualification, she continues to attend regular training in a range of areas as part of her ongoing professional development. Jenny is also a registered practitioner with a number of private healthcare providers.

She has worked in a number of settings providing mental health and wellbeing services for adults and young people including specialist sexual abuse and homelessness services. She is passionate about reducing barriers to mental health support.

Approach

Jenny is a relational counsellor who seeks to understand your own experience of the world and your experiences. She shapes the therapy she offers around each individual and their needs, valuing the uniqueness of each person. At the heart of the counselling she offers, is the relationship between the client and counsellor, which is key to the therapy process. She builds a trusting and non-judgemental working relationship, giving the client the opportunity to share thoughts and feelings openly within a confidential, safe environment. Jenny will help you to go at a pace that feels comfortable for you, encouraging you to find ways of taking care of yourself through the process and supporting you to move forward with greater clarity. She welcomes humour and playfulness into the therapy room and invites her clients to come just as they are.

Identity and self esteem

When addressing difficulties around identity and self-esteem, Jenny works to help you consider your own internal narratives; maybe the inner critic or the unrealistic expectations you place on yourself. She can support you to explore these patterns of thinking and consider how they have developed over time, perhaps linked to early relationships, difficult past experiences or family networks.

Influenced by Compassion Focussed Therapy, Jenny can help you to introduce self-compassion and self-soothing; identifying and drawing from your own inner resources and resilience.

Jenny prioritises an inclusive approach, helping you to explore what you need to free from judgement. She welcomes clients from all backgrounds, race, gender and sexuality.

Trauma (childhood or adult)

Jenny is experienced working with survivors of sexual and domestic abuse, whether in childhood or as an adult and has worked in a number of specialist trauma counselling services. She can help you to explore the impact of your past experiences on the present and find ways of coping with everyday life, such as flashbacks, dissociation or hypervigilance (an increased state of alertness or sensitivity to your environment), or perhaps the impact they have had on your current relationships.

Jenny’s trauma work is influenced by the theory of body work, where the link between trauma and the body can be explored and understood.

When working with trauma, Jenny priorities safety and can help you to explore your experiences and how they have affected you safely and gently. She can introduce strategies to help you find grounding and safety during moments of heightened stress or triggers and help you to consider what it might mean to reconnect with others and the world around you.

Anxiety and depression

Living with the challenges of anxiety or depression can make us feel stuck and question whether things can ever feel different. Jenny draws from mindfulness and CBT approaches to help you to stay grounded in the here and now and explore tools and ways of coping in the day to day.

Within the safety of the therapeutic relationship, conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings can be explored, seeking to understand how past experiences might be impacting what is happening to you in the present. By exploring the root of anxiety and depression, Jenny can help to bring greater understanding of what you are currently experiencing and find ways to move forward.

Other Information

Finding a counsellor can be a daunting experience and it can be difficult to know where to start as you look for a therapist that feels right for you. Jenny suggests an introductory session to give you the chance to meet her and to talk more about how the counselling will work. This is a free 20-minute appointment over the phone, after which point you can also decide if you feel she is a good fit for you. If you and she agree to start ongoing sessions, she will ask you to sign a contract which details some of the practicalities of therapy such as confidentiality, boundaries and cancellations.

Ongoing appointments last for 50 minutes and can take place in person, online or over the phone.
Feel free to get in touch with her if you have any initial questions about the process or what to expect.