Fiona Godfrey

BEd MA MBACP

Psychotherapy & Counselling

Individuals

I offer both short-term counselling, which can provide support during a difficult time, and psychotherapy which is longer-term and offers a deeper process of understanding, change and growth. You may be seeking help because of a painful life experience – perhaps a conflict, a loss or a relationship difficulty. You may be experiencing feelings you don’t understand or that seem out of balance – whether anger, sadness, anxiety or numbness. Maybe your physical health is being affected by your emotions. Perhaps you just feel you could be getting more from life or are simply curious to embark on a journey of greater self-understanding.

Couples / relationships 

I have specialist training to work with couples seeking to improve their relationship.  You may have hit a crisis and are questioning your partnership, want to work on patterns that keep surfacing between you, or want to bring richer communication and intimacy into your connection. A particular event or life change may have brought challenge into your world that is impacting how you are together. I also work with couples wanting to explore how to form an amicable ending. Sessions are a chance to explore questions and conversations that may have become too difficult to raise together, an opportunity to learn to manage conflict and difference in more satisfying ways and a place to reconnect with how you can be a source of soothing and support for each other.

As well as working with couples, I also work with relationship difficulties between siblings, friends, work colleagues and between parents and adult children.

Work with artists / creativity

I have a background in the arts, and specialise in working with artists and other creatives who want to increase confidence, productivity, authenticity, depth and joy in their practice.  I also work with arts partnerships / collaborations where emotional and / or relational difficulties are hindering creative flow. Find out more at www.fionagodfreyart.com.

Experience

I have experience of working with addictions, ADHD, affairs, ageing, anger, anxiety, attachment, bereavement, boarding-school history, burnout, childhood emotional neglect, communication skills, chronic fatigue, creativity, cult-involvement, depression, dissociation, domestic abuse, family dynamics, forgiveness, gender, infidelity, intimacy, loss, menopause, miscarriage, money-issues, parenting, relationships, self-esteem, sexual abuse, sexuality, sibling relationships, trauma and work-related issues.

What to expect / how I work

I offer warm, wise, dynamic conversation about what is going on for you. Sessions last 50 minutes, and are an opportunity to talk through your experiences, to give space and time for your feelings and to recognise and make sense of your emotional patterns. I will help you be more attentive to what’s happening in your body moment to moment, to develop satisfying ways of responding to your patterns of stress and distress. I sometimes suggest homework activities between sessions.

My approach is humanistic. This means that I’m genuine in how I respond to you and that what comes up in the relationship between us can be explored where relevant. Within this I work integratively, drawing on approaches from a range of psychotherapeutic traditions, including Gestalt, Internal Family Systems and Mindfulness. My work is heavily informed by family therapist Virginia Satir’s work around relationships and communication, the body-oriented somatic work of Stanley Keleman and Pete Walker’s work on complex PTSD, childhood emotional neglect and attachment trauma.

Online sessions are held on Zoom.

Qualifications

I have a certificate in psychotherapy and counselling (2014) from Spectrum in London (www.spectrumtherapy.co.uk) This was a five year modular training and I began working with clients in 2012.  The majority of my work has been in private practice. I've also worked as a bereavement support volunteer for Cruse. Spectrum's training included modules in Working with Anger, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Clinical Skills and Sexuality. I also hold a Certificate in Counselling Skills from the Iron Mill in Exeter and a Certificate in Awareness in Bereavement Care (Cruse).

I have an advanced certificate in couples therapy (Juliet Grayson - Interaction Training - CORST approved) and I continue to engage in regular professional development and supervision. Recent training experiences that inform my practice include 'Working with Ex Boarders' (Nick Duffell) and 'Internal Family Systems' (IFS) therapy (Alexia Rothman).

I'm an accredited member of the BACP and comply with the BACP's Ethical Framework in Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Fees / cancellations

Individual sessions (50 mins) - £70

Couples sessions (1 hour) - £85

Cancellations made within a week are charged for. (I’m happy to agree change of appointment time within the same week where I can accommodate it, without extra charge.)

Background

Before training in psychotherapy, I worked for many years in the arts and education and trained as a coach and action learning set facilitator. I've always been passionate about supporting people to learn, change and flourish.

I've been involved in my own self-development for over 15 years and regard my commitment to my own psychotherapy as core to the quality of my work with my clients.

Contact me

Tel: 07935 759492

Email: fionagodfreytherapy@gmail.com