LOCATION: Online sessions only
AVAILABILITY: Tuesday afternoon & Wednesday afternoon
PRICE: £59 per session (£30 initial consultation)
SPECIALISMS:
Repeating / Stuck Patterns
Toxic / difficult relationships
Issues from childhood (including ‘inner child’ & disrupted attachment)
Daughter/Mother relationships (working with daughters)
Bereavement
Loss / Separation
Purpose of Life dilemmas
Managing difficult feelings (e.g. anxiety, grief)
Trauma (childhood, adult, relational, attachment-based)
Resilience Building
Clinical Supervision (for counsellors & psychotherapists)

Training

Shelley is the Founder and Owner of the Palmeira Practice. She has been working as a therapist in Brighton and Hove since 1997, and has vast experience in working with people of all ages and from all walks of life. She is a Senior Accredited Member of the BACP, and has extensive experience working with adults in private practice for over 18 years, and has over 10 years’ experience working with young people (13 to 25 years old), including managing a young people's counselling service. She is also Owner and Director of Brighton Therapy Partnership, a training organisation for therapists, and through this keeps up to date with advances in therapeutic practice and thinking. You can read more about Shelley’s experience and approach via her website www.counselling4brighton.co.uk

Approach

Shelley originally trained as a psychodynamic practitioner, and now works in both an integrative and holistic way. She combines key therapeutic approaches to provide the best fit for the person she is working with, and considers the whole person when working therapeutically, and not just the 'issue'.

Possibly the most important element in having a successful counselling experience is your relationship with your counsellor. Research has shown that it is the single most important factor in helping your counselling to be effective. Shelley's first aim in working with you is to encourage a positive relationships by providing a secure, safe and supportive environment where problematic issues can be understood through an exploration of both conscious and unconscious feelings – feelings that are buried or difficult to access are just as important as those we are all too aware of feeling!

A range of counselling disciplines

The key approaches that Shelley uses are the psychodynamic approach, trauma-informed, attachment-based and body psychotherapy approaches. 

In the psychodynamic approach there is a focus on providing a secure and safe environment in which to explore both conscious and unconscious feelings, with an emphasis on understanding how past experiences are shaping and influencing your relationships in the present. 

Shelley's approach is influenced by the work of body psychotherapy and mindfulness where attention is paid to the whole person and how experiences and feelings are felt and understood both emotionally and physically. 

Attachment-based therapy also heavily influences Shelley's work. This is where difficulties in adult relationships can be understood by reflecting on the influence of 'attachment patterns' developed in childhood, and the nature of the bonds we made with our early care-givers.

Shelley also has training in using EMDR, and from time to time will use EMDR alongside conventional talking psychotherapy. While EMDR is often associated with trauma work, it can be helpful for a wide range of issues.

Shelley is also interested in the use of metaphor, narratives and stories in counselling. Stories can also be an important part of therapy. We all have a story, perhaps many stories, that have helped us at some point to make sense of our lives and the experiences we’ve had. Sometimes these stories seem to stop working, perhaps because of changes in our relationships with others, or because our life circumstances have changed.

A wealth of counselling experience, adapted to you

Shelley maintains very high standards of training through her work running Brighton Therapy Partnership, a training organisation for counsellors and psychotherapists. 

Other Information

Shelley has a particular interest in working with people who have experienced a bereavement, those trying to manage problems that are attachment-based in origin, people managing family relationships (past or present) especially Daughter/Mother relationships (working with daughters), and people who are exploring their purpose or direction in life.

She is open to working with people who would like to use basic art materials, journal writing, or creative writing exercises to further their self-knowledge.

Shelley is the founder of Brighton Therapy Partnership - the foremost training provider for counsellors and psychotherapists in the South East.

Shelley's articles in expertise and resources