“Life must be lived forwards but can only be underestood backwards”
Soren Klerkegaard
Your personal counsellor
A professional compassionate approach
Welcome – I am a Senior Accredited Counsellor and Psychotherapist.
It is people and their stories that hold the key to change. I have listened to many people’s stories without judgement; I’ve heard both joyful and sad stories. I invite you to tell me your story – however it comes and in whatever way you want to tell it.
I would like to hear about your achievements, your disappointments, and your pains and joys.
I believe that within all of us is the deepest of wisdom. Through our work together, I believe that your own profound insight and wisdom will start to emerge.
I will learn of your goals for therapy and we will aim to cultivate something new through the counselling process, providing a key to personal growth.
My practice is in close proximity to:-
Escrick, Skipwith Thorpe Willoughby, Brayton, Selby, Hambleton, Goole, Osgodby, Howden, Eggborough, York and surrounding areas
One of the greatest rewards of regular counselling, is that it creates a safe space to offload emotional burdens.
Often we’re so accustomed to carrying toxic thoughts and feelings we only become fully aware of how much they have weighed us down when we discard them.
The process of offloading can relieve a lot of stress and help you see your situation with more clarity.
There is often confusion between the terms “Counselling” and “Therapy” and those terms are used interchangeably to describe a similar process.
It could be said that Counselling tends to be shorter term and will generally focus on a specific issue and Therapy is more general and often goes deeper to examine childhood issues. I use both “Counselling” and “Therapy” in the way I will work with you.
Sometimes allowing strong feelings to be expressed can be an uncomfortable experience, however I will be there to listen in a warm and respectful manner and without judgement.
This forms the basis of the work that we do in therapy and while we explore the issues you bring to the sessions we also organically find a way of working that best suits you.
I will endeavour to create an environment which is unconditionally accepting so you feel enabled to talk freely about any aspect of your life.
In this way solutions arising from your own deep wisdom can begin to surface and offer new perspective on your life and ways of moving forward.
It all starts with the initial session where we can use the counselling process to explore the possibility of working together, although we may use several sessions before agreeing to continue.
If you ultimately decide to work with me; then you’ll be agreeing to attend weekly 50 minute sessions until we agree to end.
I offer relationship counselling to individuals and often couples too. I work with opposite sex and same sex couples and also offer help with dynamics experienced in mother/daughter relationships.
Like any form of relationship counselling, couples counselling is not about being told what to do. I will take an impartial affirmative and balanced perspective on your relationship and how we can take it forward.
I’ll be encouraging you to participate in a process where you both are enabled to take the most appropriate steps and will assist you with exercises to take your relationship in a better and positive direction.
If your relationship has been in conflict for some time, you may feel resentful and apportion blame to the other person.
By supporting positive communication and learning ways to listen to each other and find more caring ways to be with each other, counselling can help you and your partner come to your own decisions about how to progress.
This might also involve changing how you interact with each other; the ways you spend time together or how you deal with specific issues as a couple.
In some cases, this process might require ‘homework’ to be completed outside your counselling sessions. This is unique to everyone I work with, it can take the form of listening exercises, topics to discuss and alternative ways of dealing with certain situations or completing a specific task together.
Often it is thought that couples counselling is only suitable for couples in conflict. I also see couples in the early stages of their relationship who are noticing problems arising.
Often, we notice that these problems are patterns that have surfaced in other relationships and coming to couples counselling at this time in your relationship creates the possibility of breaking previous patterns so that the relationship is less likely to get into conflict further down the line.
Like individual counselling it will all begin with the initial session. This will give you a chance to work out whether I am the best fit for you both as a counsellor/therapist.
Sessions are 75 minutes duration and can be weekly or sometimes fortnightly.
“”…the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.”
Carl Jung
Frequently Asked Questions
Some further helpful information about how I can help you
What are my professional qualifications?
BSc (Hons) Integrative Counselling
Diploma Integrative therapeutic counselling
Certificate in Online and Telephone Counselling August 2020
Bereavement Awareness (Ascentis)
is every thing we discuss in the sessions confidential?
Everything we discuss is confidential. My professional membership with the NCPS (formerly NCS) requires that I engage regularly with an ethics consultant. Your identity will not be revealed at any time should I discuss you in these consultations.
Do I work with children?
I work with those above the age of 18
What are my practice hours?
Monday to Wednesday 11.30am – 8.00pm
Do I offer online therapy?
I can work either in person on line, usually with Zoom conferencing. If you choose to work online you will need a desktop or laptop computer and a set of headphones and a microphone in order to have the best experience of working this way.
My cancellation policy (please note carefully)
Booked sessions not taken or cancelled will incur a charge as follows:-
more than 48 hours’ notice to non-attendance incurs a £15.00 fee charge; and
less than 48 hours’ notice incurs a full session fee charge.
How do I schedule an appointment?
Our first step is to meet for an initial session. This is for us to explore the possibility of us working together and for you to get a feel for me and decide whether I’m a good fit for you
Am I supervised?
I engage with an ethical consultant as required by my ethical body the NCPS (former NCS).
The purpose of my ethical consultation is for me to discuss the work I do with people who attend sessions with me to provide them with the best possible service.
During these consultations your name will not be used to protect your confidentiality.
How many sessions will I need?
I tend to work medium term with individuals 16-20 sessions and longer, but counselling can be short 6-12 sessions for an individual issue, or longer where are a number of issues to deal with. For couples 6-12 sessions maximum is normal.
What are my professional bodies?
I am a Senior Accredited Member of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) (formerly NCS) and abide by their code of ethics and conduct and hold the title SNCPS (acc).
How much do I charge?
Initial Assessment – I charge £35.00 for individual assessment sessions. Should you undertake to engage my services thereafter then the the full individual/couples session fee below will apply.
Individuals – I charge £55.00 per 50 minute session
Couples Relationship Therapy – I charge £75.00 per 75 mins session.
Concessionary Places – I have a limited number of concessionary places available from time to time. Please enquire.
Do I take referrals from insurance companies and EAPs?
For Insurance Companies and Employee Assistance Programmes, Please contact me for separate pricing structure
“When you invite your woundedness out of subversiveness and into your awareness you finally begin to honor the past pain. You also minimize its contractive influence on your life. And you begin to offer yourself the potential of something more.”
Markus William Kasunich
““We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
Maya Angelou
Get in touch with Debra
I look forward to hearing from you. You can contact me by telephone on 07977723190.
My office hours are:
Monday to Wednesday 11:30am to 8:00pm
Its best however to send me an e-mail
“Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.”
