I offer a range of socially distanced therapy-counselling and peer supervision: nationwide online with Zoom, FaceTime or Skype, by Phone, or face to face during a distanced countryside walk and or within a quiet private garden.

Hello & Welcome

“We come for therapy because we want to make changes in our life , to understand and to be understood . I will give you care and support to uncover the parts of yourself that you already know but need to find words for so you can strengthen your position within your self. I work with adults and young people over 18.

Do you need a safe place to explore how to move forwards?

I have many years of experience as a therapist and have worked in a wide range of settings, with many different issues. I help clients to make sense of what they are finding difficult and find new ways to live their lives. Please get in touch to book an appointment.

“Phillipa is not only a therapist/counsellor, she is a fountain of knowledge and experience, gifted in the art of helping people, a good human, with personality, spirit and an open mind.”

Kevin

Relationship Problems

Being in a relationship can at times produce conflicting and confusing patterns of behaviour which are hard to understand. Counselling can help you understand and change these patterns. It is possible to see how they unconsciously play out throughout your life, affecting your relationships and, in fact, all areas of your life.

Trauma

Trauma can come from many places
and can cause disfunction in life. Our pathways to health and happiness become clogged with a stuckness that can affect all areas of life. It holds you in repeated patterns that take you back to the original trauma. Understanding how this happens and noticing the feelings of being activated in our trauma can help to heal and change .

Family and Parenting

Parenting is wonderful as well as, at times, tough. It can bring up our own childhood issues. There is an opportunity for our children to have a different experience within the family, not repeating the unconscious bad patterns that we have experienced ourselves. How you live your life is a mirror to how your children will learn about their life and relationships .

Grief and Loss

When we grieve about one thing all the other things we’ve kept on hold about loss come to the fore. Often we grieve about many things at the same time. There are different stages of grief and each stage comes and goes and then remerges again. Counselling can help and support you through the different stages of grief working towards expectance and a new chapter of your life.

Times of Change

Life changes can be challenging they can cause stress, anxiety, depression, fear, anger, loneliness and confusion.

We get thrown off our path, into the unknown. We become challenged and possibly lost. How do we find a way out, a way forward?

When we come to a crossroads or transition in our lives, counselling can support to explore what is possible. Find out what speaks to you individually. What do you need to change to help you find new growth within yourself? Explore new beginnings.

Divorce and separation

There are many reasons for divorce or separation but most of all theres a loss of hope, of all you’ve once believed in.

You may have reached the decision together or it may be one of you who wants the relationship to end. At a crisis point between two people which becomes stuck and irreparable we can go through the grieving process of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Therapy can be extremely helpful to support you to untie yourself from the other and start to find your new self your new life.

A Quiet Place To Talk

I offer a confidential, caring, respectful non judgemental space where you can be exactly how you need to be – a safe equal space between client and therapist where we can explore together the things that are troubling you and what you’d like to change about your life. A respectful safe holding space where you can be supported on your journey of understanding and time of healing.

My Counselling

We are born into a family-community with its own history and ways of being. Our first learning comes from the reflection of that family environment and from that our sense of self forms with different parts of us developing . Some of those parts are healthy and some are are not. In our sessions we will give time to understand all these parts you and how they interact with each other ,helping you to find a strong sense of your original self.

If you cannot find a way to tell the story of your life, your story will tell you through your dreams and physical symptoms. Or you may find yourself acting in ways you don’t understand.
I work with my clients at their pace, listening sensitively to what needs to be heard and understood, what need to healed and made well.

All sessions are private and confidential. I will not share any information from or about you, except in exceptional circumstances (i.e. in the unlikely circumstances you or someone else is at risk of serious harm). I discuss my work, on a strictly anonymous basis, with my supervisor to ensure I am providing the best service possible.

I feel passionately about helping my clients to flourish and grow enabling them to feel better about themselves.

“Phillipa helped me express my feelings in surprising ways,

unlocking creativity and exploring sub-conscious thoughts.

I would highly recommend Phillipa and am so glad that she was

the person to help me along a very important journey.”

Pam

More about Relationships

As well as a relationship to others we have a relationship to ourself. Relationship also involves self care.

Taking time to care for ourself will reflect some of how we are in relationship to one another. How we learned to be in relationship within our family in childhood will act as a template to how we choose and behave in relationship throughout our life.
We can reenact some of what we learnt within our family of origin setting. We learnt a way of being within that family, how to relate to one another, how to feel and express yourself, how to negotiate and to love or be loved.

Counselling gives you an opportunity to rethink, relook, retrace and understand your relationship dynamics.

More about Family and

Parenting

Having our own boundaries and structure teaches our children about theirs, being realistic about how much of you there is to go round and looking after yourself shows our children how in turn to know how to look after themselves as they grow up.

Talk and listen to one another, choose your battles, what’s important and what can be let go of .

How you live your life is a mirror to how
your children will learn about life and relationships.

Having to be mum and dad and being a single parent is extremely challenging, so getting as much knowledge and support as possible is key here and remembering the good enough parent is good enough. Giving time to look inwards and see how we can unconsciously act out some of our own inner childhood, looking at the what i call, what’s mine , what’s yours , what’s in the middle between us. We will cover all these issues during your therapy sessions .

More about Grief and Loss

Understanding the different stages of grieve and working through the loss can be a very painful and venerable time where support and holding is a vital part of the process to moving on.

Stages of grief:

Denial, shock and disbelief that the loss has occurred

Anger, that someone we love is no longer here

Bargaining, all the what-ifs and regrets

Depression, sadness from the loss

Acceptance, acknowledging the reality of the loss, moving on, new beginning.

More about Times of Change

I can work with you at a deep level helping you to uncover hidden beliefs and fears working with transitions and times of change. Dream work can be an exciting and safe way to discover some of our unconscious beliefs and I welcome the opportunity to work with you in this way. I have often found this process to be very creative and transformative.

I know that sometimes words and talking are not the only way to express yourself . I have the sensitivity to recognise this and have found that the natural world or creative art work can be an alternative way forward, helping you to feel more understood and seen for who you are.

About Me

I grew up in the south west in a large family.
I am a mother of an adult daughter and a teenage son. My life has been very full of experiences that I have sought to make sense of and grow from. My own personal therapy has been key in developing that understanding. I have gained enormous benefit from this which is partly what drove me to train as a therapist. I wanted to turn this into a benefit for others too.

I have been working as a therapist for 23 years with adult clients. I spent a number of years running a secondary school counselling service. This reaffirmed my passion for working with the complexities of families and relationships.

I am BACP registered. I was trained in the integrated model of therapy. I was attracted to this type of therapy because it takes account of the whole person; emotional, physical and mental.

Location

My therapy room is based in South Wraxall.
It is just 10 minutes drive from Bath and Bradford on Avon. It is a beautiful quiet private country setting. It has private secure parking.

Experience

Relationship issues
Divorce and Separation
Childhood experiences
Trauma
Family relationships
Parenting and step parenting
Lack of confidence and low self-esteem
Grief, Bereavement and loss
Understanding and surviving affaires and betrayals
Anxiety, Depression, Stress
Sexual Abuse
Self Belief

Qualifications

CPCAB European Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling.
BACP Registered Member and work to their code of ethics
Couples counselling training, Revision London Monthly supervision with a qualified psychotherapist.
23 years experience of working with clients.
Transitions course, Revision London. (A centre for transpersonal training)
10 years active participant in “Sophia’s Pearls Women’s Group” led by Eve Adams
4 years active participant in peer support dream group for therapists led by Eve Adams.
Individual supervision .
10 years running a secondary school counselling service.
Ongoing training with MarionWoodman -Body Soul Foundation

My Approach

I offer professional confidential support in a quiet, private, safe and non-judgemental environment. It allows you to explore sensitive issues and clarify what you find difficult and challenging. It brings into your consciousness what may be unseen or unknown about your life. Counselling allows you to find a new understanding of your thoughts, feelings and actions. It helps you to become more informed. You will be able to make new choices and changes.

“With Phillipa’s guidance and support, I have been able to investigate and explore my own thought patterns and feelings, and more importantly find the appropriate tools to enable me to cope.”

Linda

Integrative

I am an integrative therapist which means I draw on different ideas and models of working with people to best suit the needs of the individual. My approach is to attune to the client as closely as possible so that a compatible way of working is formed.

Integrative counselling looks at the whole person, taking into account your mental, physical ,and emotional needs.

It values the individual and encourages the client to achieve a state of wholeness in which they are functioning to their fullest potential.

Person-Centred

A person-centred approach is central to my ethos, this places great value on establishing a warm and empathic relationship. A central belief is that given the right therapeutic conditions we are able to move towards reaching our highest potential. Sometimes difficult past experiences can cause us to lose touch with this ability and counselling can help re-connect us to this deeper knowing.

Walk and Talk

Using the outdoor nature setting as a container and reflector to the therapeutic process. Having established the boundaries around taking the session outdoors, we can then spend time walking or sitting outdoors at an agreed time and location. The initial session would need to be within the therapy space or online to ensure that this is a suitable way forward for us both.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below I have answered the questions i’m most often asked. If you have any other questions or would like to know more about me or counselling in general and how it could help you please feel free to get in touch here

How long does each appointment last?

Each appointment will be 50 minutes .

Where and how can we meet

Appointments available and in Bath and the Bradford on Avon area, also via video link online or telephone.

How much do you charge?

I charge £50 for a 50 minute appointment.

I hold a few spaces where a reduced fees for those within financial hardship or a lower income bracket , typically £35 to £40, this can be negotiated with me . Please contact me to discuss this if you need a reduced fee space.

How frequent are the sessions?

Counselling appointments are best weekly or fortnightly depending on the need of the client. We can discuss together your availability and the frequency of your appointment.

What days and times can I book sessions?

I offer appointments in the daytime Monday to Friday from 8am and evenings until 7pm.

Contact

Please get in touch with any queries or appointment enquiries via email or phone. If I am unable to answer please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours.

Phone

0772 929 6679

Email

counselling@phillipabrucecounselling.co.uk