Hello and welcome
My name is Rhiannon and I am a trauma informed Integrative Person Centred Counsellor. I am here to support you with any feelings, experiences or issues that you wish to bring to counselling. As an Integrative and humanistic-based counsellor, I will not judge or explicitly tell you what to do, but will gently support you, so that you identify and understand what is upsetting you and what steps you might need and want to take, to live in a way that makes sense for you.
Along the way, I will support you to explore your sense of self, what feels meaningful to you in your life and help you to consider and the way you connect with others and the world around you. My approach is respectful, compassionate and valuing of people’s unique identities, personal experiences, needs, feelings and how they communicate this. I work in an embodied way which considers the role of the nervous system and gut-brain relationship, with mental health. I can offer simple tools to help you identify how you are feeling (mind and body) and how to process and manage low mood, anxiety, procrastination, difficulties around executive function, overwhelm and burnout.
I work with adults and young people, over the age of eighteen and can offer face to face, online and walk and talk counselling, in and around Stroud. My counselling room is based in central Stroud.
A bit about using creativity – Being Integrative, for me, means that I can offer you opportunities for therapeutic drawing, mark-making and collage, use of picture cards and guided visualisation. These tools can be calming and useful if you find it difficult to identify how you are feeling about an issue or want to approach it differently, struggle to articulate your feelings, experience communication difficulties or just want to nourish your creativity. I never assume that all clients will want to work in this way and therefore offer this lightly as an option, once we have gotten to know each other.
A bit about Walking and Talking – Integrating walking and talking into counselling can feel less formal and more accessible especially if you feel emotionally stuck or prefer to not to make eye contact very much. Walking can naturally reduce stress levels by increasing endorphins in your body and connecting you to your circadian rhythm, for better sleep. The rhythmic motion of walking can also support clearer thinking and enhance your cognitive function. Although, we call it ‘walking and talking therapy’, it is not exclusively open to those who can walk great distances or at all. If you have mobility difficulties, I will work with you to identify accessible and safe routes to travel along. Please just ask.