Meet Rachael
Founder and lead counsellor
I have always been interested in the mind, emotions and human behaviour. In my past, I often felt there were things I didn’t understand about myself, what motivated me, why I worried about some things and not others. The things that motivated me and made me happy were different than the people around me and I felt, whether true or not, I was being judged for feeling differently about the world than my peers.
These feelings I had about myself affected my emotional health and well-being and how I interacted with people and the world around me. I felt without direction or purpose.
For this reason, I sought counselling to improve my understanding of myself and what made me feel the way I do. I wanted to discover how this impacted on my happiness and well-being, my relationships with family and friends and to help find my purpose in life. It wasn’t always an easy journey but learning to accept what was both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ about myself brought peace and calmness to my life and a sense of healing that I never expected to find.
Having counselling myself changed my life around and inspired me to become a counsellor too. I wanted to help other people find peace and happiness and a sense of inner calmness about their own lives and their journey through it.
I know that learning to live life without unnecessary guilt, anger, anxiety or worrying about the judgement of others is empowering and will lead you to a more productive and fulfilling life.
Being a member of the member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy assures you that we will provide you with a safe, comfortable and confidential environment. We abide by a strict code of ethical conduct as well as attending regular professional supervision to engage in therapeutic reflection and continuous personal development.
I look forward to meeting you and helping you take the necessary steps towards living a more meaningful and engaging life.
I am proud to provide professional counselling to staff working at the Rainbow Trust Charity in Wigan. The charity provides support to families with children suffering from life-threatening or terminal illnesses and I provide professional support for counselling staff helping those same families. They do incredible work so please take a moment to see what they do and if you can help support them too.
Rachel
Meet CHARLOTTE
counsellor / Dip. Couns, Reg. MBACP
I know that the idea of attending counselling can be scary and uncomfortable. I was in the same position when I sought out counselling for my own personal problems a few years ago. However, having counselling opened my whole inner world that I hadn’t been properly connected to before, and it helped me begin to understand myself, my journey, other people, and the world around me.
Person-centred believes that you have a natural power within yourself; that you know yourself the best (even though it may not feel like it), and that you know what is right for you, but along the way that insight has been lost through external factors.
On top of this, sometimes it’s hard to open up and discuss things with friends, family or a partner. Instead, it’s often easier to talk things through with somebody who is impartial and non-judgemental. This is where person-centred counselling comes in.
In our counselling sessions, the time is yours to discuss your thoughts and feelings with me, where I will seek to understand your experience and needs so that together, we can face your problems and work through them. I’ll be a companion on your journey, providing a safe space where you can explore the things that are important to you. By doing this, you’ll be able to reflect, gain perspective and ultimately become more empowered.
I acknowledge and appreciate the differences in each individual and welcome people from all walks of life.
I’m a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and as such, I follow a code of conduct which ensures that I practice in an ethical way to keep both you, and myself, safe.
As a responsible Counsellor, I regularly attend supervision where I discuss my process and skills to promote my own personal development. This ensures that I am engaging with clients in the best possible way.
I’m currently offering remote sessions via Zoom, Skype, FaceTime or over the phone. I work with both men and women over the age of 18 within a flexible time frame which can be negotiated based on your needs.
Meet Brian
Hypnotherapist-Inherited Therapy Specialist
Growing up as an only child with parents at the age of 42, who saw me as a blessing, I was somewhat doted upon. This meant I grew up in an home environment filled with unconditional love and trust from my parents. I was nourished both emotionally and psychology by them and this I assumed was normal for all children..
However, I realised once I started school that my childhood environment was not the same and that other children grew up in parenting environments that did not create such a nourishing and loving environment as my own.
I think this difference made me more sensitive and aware of the children that seemed to isolate themselves from social groups at school and be unwilling to participate in sports and other social activities.
Looking back, I can see I always had a very strong, natural, sense of empathy towards people that were on the ‘outside’, that were potentially isolated and lonely. Consequently, it came naturally to me to encourage these children to join in with something, especially in something like football which immediately created a sense of belonging, of being in a group, of being accepted. Even then, at a young age, making a connection with these children and seeing them open up and become more engaged always gave me huge satisfaction personally, too.
When I was 14, I was subject to a gang attack. As well as my own shock, my parents were distraught and deeply upset by this event.
This was a pivotal moment in my life as it showed me how what happened to me, or how my actions, could dramatically affect other people in my life. I promised my Mum and Dad that somehow, I would not let this happen again. To me, this meant being more conscious of other people’s feeling and understanding I needed to be even more attentive and aware of them.
When I was 16 I started studying martial arts and I thought this was part of fulfilling my promise to my parents, however, it became much more than just learning self defence. It was as much a spiritual journey as it was a physical one. It taught me about the mind body relationship and started my journey into understanding how much spirituality played in emotional and psychological well-being.
It seems natural to me now that these formative experiences of caring so much for others and developing a deep empathy for other people that I became a hypnotherapist.
My hypnotherapy approach takes a deeply emphatic route and is aimed at creating positive changes in a person’s mental and physical wellbeing. This approach has led to great success for me as a hypnotherapist but it is always, without doubt, seeing people live a happier, more positive and fulfilling life that is the most rewarding thing to me.
You can read about Hypnotherapy and my specialism, Inherited Therapy Hypnosis here
Now at age 61, I believe that more than ever, guidance through very difficult times on our planet is much needed .
I will be here to help.
All the very best to all,
Brian.
Member of the International Association for Evidence Based Pyschotherapy