Stuart Alderton
EMDR Practitioner/Counsellor/Therapist
“Life must be lived forwards but can only be understood backwards”
I welcome you
I understand that it can be difficult to cope when life events stop us from living life as we want to. We can get to that place where life is just not as enjoyable as it used to be and so we start to struggle with normal daily things and our sleep suffers. We can’t make sense of why we are feeling this way and can’t figure out what’s wrong or what to do so it becomes a struggle to enjoy the simple things in life. Sometimes we don’t want to tell anyone for fear of burdening people with our troubles or we just don’t know how to tell anyone how we are feeling.
Facing difficult issues or even thinking about how to unpack trauma can be scary, daunting and overwhelming. I will help you to see that what you talk about in therapy is just what’s already in your head; you’ve just not said it out loud yet.
As your therapist I can offer you a confidential, trusting and non-judgemental space where you will be heard and feel in control. I can offer you a nurturing environment where we will go at your pace so that you can feel safe.
In your first session we can discuss what traumatic events in your life have brought you to therapy now and we can then focus on the changes you may want to make. We can explore your thoughts and feelings and set some goals for change when you feel committed and ready for this.
Offering a warm, confidential, empathic and non-judgemental environment is at the heart of my counselling and supervision practice.
I believe that given the right environment of acceptance, understanding, space for exploration and encouragement, you can feel more able to explore the issues that brought you to therapy and that once connections are made, this will empower you to feel able to make choices for your future. Once these core conditions are in place then a trusting and open relationship between us can be developed.
We can use creative ways of working if words are difficult for you. My aim is to allow you to express yourself any way you need in order to get to where you want to go.
I can offer specialist therapy to those who are experiencing the impact of trauma, abuse, sexual and domestic violence and PTSD. I have over 20 years’ experience of working as a therapist with issues such as anxiety/stress, low self-esteem/self-worth, bereavement, depression, attachment issues, separation anxiety, concerns around LGBTQ+, OCD, bullying and work related stress, issues around menopause, health anxiety etc.
Your Consultant Supervisor
Supervision is one of the most significant supports we have in our work, enabling us to explore concerns, recognise achievements and gain the benefits of reflective practice for integrating new learning.
I offer the kind of supervision I like to receive which is warm and supportive but where I know I will be challenged appropriately when necessary. Having a protected space each month where you can review and consider your practice ensures that you are able to offer the best service you can to clients. I see this too when I have my own monthly clinical supervision.
Supervision is one of the main ways in which we can tie ourselves into the profession and also be appropriately transparent in the context of work, which is by its nature private and confidential, keeping us resourceful and ethical.
I offer a warm, non-judgemental, safe and confidential space where you can discuss your client work openly and honestly, where you will be supported to develop professionally and helped to address ethical issues in your work. I use immediacy, challenge, education and support in sessions to help you to continue to work safely and ethically with your clients.
I qualified as a Person-Centred/Existential Counsellor in 2005. I undertook a 2 year in-house Trauma Focused CBT training programme with the NHS in 2012. I qualified as a Consultant Supervisor from a South Wales University in 2015.
I did my supervisor placement with Cruse Bereavement Care in 2014/2015. My experience of being a clinical supervisor since then has been wide and varied. I supervised out of hours staff in a sexual assault referral centre and nursing staff in a safeguarding team in the NHS. I supervised qualified and student counsellors in a domestic abuse charity in Cardiff for 2 years as well as supervising front line staff who provide one to one support to survivors of sexual and domestic violence over the phone. I also supervised counsellors working in secondary education.
Currently I supervise five qualified counsellors who are in private practice. I supervise qualified and student counsellors in two mental health charities in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan as well as a domestic abuse charity in the Vale of Glamorgan and with staff in Cardiff University.
I use the Cyclical Model (Page & Waskett) of supervision in my practice. This allows us in individual and group supervision to ensure that we pay attention to safety and confidentiality at the start of every session. We then go on to the “focus” of what you want to bring to supervision. We then use the “space” to explore what is happening in the process with your client, looking at transferential issues. This is also the space for education, encouragement and learning. We then “consolidate” the learning and what you can bring back to your practice to help you and your client. The final stage is “review”. Here we discuss what was helpful in supervision, what we could do differently and we also celebrate things that went well in sessions with your clients.
I offer individual and group sessions (maximum of 4 per group) and I work face to face or over Zoom.
Counselling and Psychotherapy to help you with...
I’d like to help you by inviting you to talk through a wide range of issues that might be arising in your life right now in the hope of helping you finding a way forward with clarity and vision. Some of these areas might be:-
- Childhood Trauma
- Grief and Loss
- Relationships
- Domestic Violence
- Adult Trauma
- Single Incident Trauma
- Harrassment Othering and Bullying
- Anger Issues
- Historic Trauma
- Recent Trauma
“The sole purpose of human existence is to kindle light in the darkness of mere being”
Carl Jung
FAQs
About Therapy
Masters in Psychology – University College Dublin- 1981.
I qualified as a Person-Centred/Existential Counsellor in 2005.
Post-Graduate Degree in Consultative Supervision – University of South Wales – 2015.
Everything we discuss is confidential. I am an accredited member of thethe UKAHPP and engage regularly with an ethics consultant. Your identity will not be revealed at any time should I discuss you in these consultations.
Our first step is to meet for an initial session. This is for us to explore the possibility of us working together and for you to get a feel for me and decide whether I’m a good fit for you
I engage in monthly supervision as required by my code of ethics
I tend to work medium term with individuals 16-20 sessions and longer, but counselling can be short 6-12 sessions for an individual issue, or longer where there are a number of issues to deal with.
I am an accredited member of UKAHPP and abide by their code of ethics. I am also a Fellow of NCIP.
For Insurance Companies and Employee Assistance Programmes, Please contact me for separate pricing structure
Cost
Sessions are 50 minutes in duration except the initial session which is 60 minutes in duration.
The charge for the sessions is currently £50.00 per 60 minutes session.
For clinical supervision the charge is currently £65.00 per 60 minutes session.
“When you invite your woundedness out of subversiveness and into your awareness you finally begin to honor the past pain. You also minimize its contractive influence on your life. And you begin to offer yourself the potential of something more.”
Markus William Kasunich
Get in touch with Terry
Phone: + 44 7452 879624
Penarth, Cardiff CF64 2PJ
“Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.”
Shannon L Adler
I look forward to connecting with you
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