Rachel Burrows

The need to share and connect through our experiences and life story is human nature; I can listen to what it is you need to share, to hear the thoughts and feelings that are troubling you. It may be that your anxiety feels higher at this time, that you are feeling overwhelmed and finding it hard to cope with life. Counselling can provide a space to understand and know yourself at a deeper level, that is otherwise hard to connect with in daily life. It can feel helpful to explore identity, experiences, desires or life purpose in the non-judgemental therapeutic relationship.

I am registered with BACP (The British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy) and am committed to their professional standards, good practice guidance and Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.

I am registered with NCS (The National Counselling Society), and align to their code of ethical practice and their ethos statement that supports the professional development of the counselling profession. They state that “We recognise that while counselling and psychotherapy encompass the very valuable work of mental health, they can never be reduced to mental health diagnosis and treatment alone…our foundational ethos to focus on our vocation, and to continue to offer a home for the widest possible range of approaches, modalities, individuals and organisations.“

As an Associate member of APCCA (Association for Person Centred Creative Arts) I join them in promoting mental health, emotional wellbeing and creativity through the therapeutic use of creative arts, an approach where the principles are that creative art work is free from judgement, assessment or external interpretation.

Where I work

Face to face sessions are available in a bright and airy room on the first floor on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at counselling@unit12.

counselling@unit12 can be found on the map at bottom of the page.

Online sessions are available – please state in your enquiry if this is something you are interested in.

Would you like to book an appointment?

 My approach

I provide you with a space to be heard, where you can feel safe and connected. You and your needs for counselling are important. Together we can understand what you need from therapy and that becomes our focus. Your individuality and particular issues are held in the space, that is for you to bring and express in a way and at a pace that feels right for you. All of you is welcome, I believe every person is beautiful in the light of their own meaning.

I have experienced clients being able to connect with and express themselves in ways that feel helpful for them through drawing, talking about/using colour and choosing images and objects to represent their feelings, sense of self and their experiences.  Together we have thought about how to explore and sometimes a pen and paper, the structure of a diagram, a mind map, or focus on a task can bring new self-awareness.

These ways of working are available to you and can be adapted for working online, should you wish to do so.

I offer individual counselling for adult clients:

• Face to face counselling

• Online counselling (considered by individual arrangement)

• Each session is 50 minutes

• Open ended or set number of sessions as needed & agreed

How might an initial session be helpful before I decide to go ahead?

The aim of counselling is to provide you, the client, with the opportunity to talk about any problems or difficulties you have that are bothering you and to explore your thoughts and feelings in a safe place, without judgement.

As such, an initial session to explore what it is you want from counselling and to consider if client and counsellor are a suitable match, aims to help this process. It is an opportunity for you to ask questions and to share and think together about fears, hopes and expectations you may have about the counselling process and any previous experiences of counselling you may have had.

To help this process, some information about your experiences, significant life events, past and present relationships, and how you are day to day, can be supportive to understanding what life is like for you and what you may need from counselling. You only need to share what you feel safe and are comfortable to share. There is no expectation to go to deeply into your issues at this point, we would work together to build trust and safety in our relationship to help enable this in sessions going forward.

Whilst it is hoped that we will be able to proceed to work together, there may be a number of reasons why we decide that this is not possible and as such there is no obligation or expectation that sessions will continue after an initial session.  

If you do wish to proceed and it is agreed that we can work together, further sessions can be agreed with a view that the objectives of the counselling are decided by you and what you want to achieve.

 What is Trauma Counselling?

Trauma Counselling brings to the counselling relationship, a focus around unresolved and unprocessed experiences of the past, that are held as trauma in the systems within the human body and may be experienced as persistent irritability, disturbances, fear, panic, avoidance, disconnection, emotional fluctuations/instability, breakdown in relationships and high anxiety. Understanding what you may be experiencing through a trauma informed approach, can help to understand how experiences of the past may be impacting on your connection to people and experiences of the world around you.

Trauma informed approaches can be integrated into our work together. We can consider and identify what it is that you may be experiencing now as symptoms and distress, and acknowledge ways that you have been coping that have enabled you to get this far. Collaborating together, we consider and focus on what it is you would like to change and what it is that you need in order to make the changes you want.

The presence of another allows us to feel safe so that we may better make this heroic inner journey.

- Peter Levine

We begin with creating a sense of inner safety and experience of safety in our counselling space and relationship in the here and now, so that we can begin working to understand and recognise your symptoms of trauma safely.

As the therapy continues, we consider the meaning of body sensations, changes and fluctuations in emotional states, intrusive memories and thoughts and the impact on your life and relationships. Making sense of your experiences, any memories, and associated sensations is the focus, rather than trying to recall and retell the detail of the events, that often is not accessible in the fragmentation that trauma creates. This is paced work, that takes time and is centred around safety, stabilisation, re-connecting and developing resources to experience increased connection and support a sense of calm in your body and mind and to the world and those around you.

 Trauma counselling offers hope for connection and safety in relationships, so that life may feel more fulfilling and meaningful.

Carolyn Spring (writer, survivor and researcher) offers reflections on their own experience of the transformation that therapy can bring:

This continued training, reading, research, & experiential workshops, are valuable in my professional development and helps me to meet you, the client, in your individual experiences at various life stages, significant life events. I am experienced in working with a variety of issues in short and open-ended counselling, including: