Cathy Brett

I will work with you to support and guide your exploration of what’s not working in your life and find ways of getting more satisfaction. As a humanistic counsellor and psychotherapist, I regard you as the expert on yourself. So, I am interested in working with the whole of you, your knowledge and your confusion, your joy and your pain, with the aim of supporting you to know more of yourself. With that increased awareness comes the possibility of change. I am empathetic and can also be challenging; I am goodwilled and will always act in your best interests. I don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach; we are all unique and I will get to know you as an individual and work with you in the way that best supports you.

Areas I work with

Starting individual or couples therapy is often a brave action and is always a responsible thing to do. By choosing to explore what’s troubling you in counselling and psychotherapy, you are choosing to get behind yourself and that in itself is a positive step. Therapy can be hard work, it can be cathartic, it can be painful and it can be freeing. I will always work at your pace, and you will choose what you bring to therapy.

We seek therapy for many reasons, and you will bring your own uniqueness. Here are some of the issues that you might bring:

• Wanting to explore how to feel more satisfied in relationships; with parents, partners, children, friends or colleagues
• Feeling paralysed by anxiety – full of fear and panic
• Needing to speak to someone other than family and friends, who won’t judge or offer opinion
• Feeling out of control of self-defeating behaviours
• Addiction and self-harm
• Feeling ashamed and full of self-loathing
• Feeling full of rage and unable to contain it
• Wanting to talk about troubling events from the past
• Feeling ruled by a need to control situations that are uncontrollable
• Grieving the loss of a relationship
• Feeling low and hopeless without seeing a way forward

Qualifications and Training

I am a qualified, experienced psychotherapist and counsellor in on-going supervision and professional development at Spectrum, a UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) registered centre for humanistic psychotherapy. I draw primarily on Gestalt Psychotherapy (developing awareness) and Formative Psychology (changing experience) as a basis for my work.

I hold an Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Certificate in Counselling Skills and am trained in Clinical Skills, Anger Management, Sexuality, Re-parenting, and working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and comply with the BACP’s Ethical Framework for Good Practice.