Sue Shaw

Life can be challenging and to the extent it is often difficult to see a way forward. Perhaps you find yourself repeating the same old behaviours and wondering how you managed to get to this point again. Counselling is about being listened to and understood by someone who will be very much with and alongside you. It can be a very powerful experience in helping you to identify, come to terms with, change or heal a situation. It can be thought of as offering a way to gain perspective on behaviour, emotions and relationships and can serve as a means to address pain and loss and can help alleviate anxiety, depression and anger in their many forms. Within this it can also help develop communication skills for dealing with conflict and frustration.

Finding the right counsellor whom you feel able to work with is essential and an important part of the process but I also understand that approaching someone unknown to you to talk about what may be very personal, difficult and often complex concerns can feel quite daunting. I strive to maintain an empathic, safe relationship within a professional and confidential environment. My objective is always that you feel heard and I will work sensitively with what you bring to our sessions together.

Talking in confidence in this way provides an environment that enables you to express yourself freely and openly in a way not possible with family or friends, which may help you effect the changes you want in your life. I am not here to judge nor to influence but to help you make your own choices and decisions and thereby develop a greater self awareness of the way that you feel, think and behave.

I also understand that everyone is a unique individual and that what works for one person may not work for another. I am able to undertake both short or long term counselling (typically 6-12-18) dependent on individual need and work with a wide range of issues and always from a Person-Centred framework incorporating Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Solution Focused approaches as and where appropriate. This means I aim to meet you as an individual or couple and can tailor your needs accordingly.

I work with a diverse range of issues (see under experience) within a recognised code of ethics (BACP) and from discreet premises accessible to private individuals and couples within the Chester, Cheshire, Wirral and Flintshire catchment areas.

If the idea of face to face counselling is something you feel you would struggle to accommodate, then dependant on your needs, you may be a candidate for telephone counselling which we can discuss on point of contact. I do not offer 'anonymous' telephone counselling but you may expect the same service in terms of confidentiality as any other face-to-face client and may switch between the two at any time.

If you feel counselling might be for you and wish to find out more about me, my service or if you have a more general enquiry about counselling please feel free to make contact. I also welcome enquiries from EAPs and other affiliated organisations.  

Fees
Initial session/assessment will be £25.00, thereafter £35.00-£45.00 per (50 minute) session for individuals and £45.00 for couples, EAP's and other organisations. I offer concessionary rates for students and those on limited income.