About me
Hello, I'm Debbie
I am a fully qualified counsellor and a member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (MBACP) and I adhere to their ethical framework and guidelines, so you can feel confident that I am a safe and ethical practitioner .
My training was integrative and I draw on a number of different approaches and theories of counselling. I believe that each person’s needs are unique and that a single approach will not suit everybody. I would rather focus on developing a positive working relationship with you, using a flexible approach to the many techniques available to us, combining the strengths of multiple theories in order to apply those that are most beneficial to your specific needs.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is the approach that I find most helpful personally, so I would often start with this perspective. It seems to be one of the few approaches that embraces difference and the complexity of a self that often presents differently in different situations and at different times. Understanding the complexity of my own parts helps me to remain my calm, curious, compassionate self in sessions.
As a neurodivergent counsellor, I find that neurodivergent clients benefit from having a counsellor who understands neurodiversity through lived experience. I particularly enjoy working with neurodivergent people, whether you are diagnosed, self-diagnosed or just starting to wonder about your neurodivergent traits. You may have a diagnosis, such as autism, ADHD or AuDHD or you may prefer not to label your own unique traits. Many of my neurodivergent traits are also strengths for me as a counsellor. A lifetime of watching other people closely in an effort to fit in is a great foundation for understanding my clients!
One of my more unusual neurodivergent traits is that I am completely ‘aphantasic’. ‘Aphantasia’ is the lack of a ‘mind’s eye’. For most of my life, I assumed that people were talking metaphorically when they referred to visualising things. We tend to assume that everyone perceives things in much the same way as we do. However, it turns out that there is a spectrum of ability for visualising things, either imagined or remembered. For some, the images are hazy and there are also a small percentage of people who are ‘hyperphantasic’, visualising things as clearly as if they were actually seeing them.
I can’t visualise anything at all, however hard I try. I don’t even have images when I dream, although many aphantasics do. In some ways ‘aphantasia’ can be a disability but, like many neurodivergent traits, it can also bring some strengths. Although my autobiographical memory is very poor, I tend to focus more on the present. That’s great for focusing all my attention on what is going on in a counselling session. It also makes me appreciate how differently we all see the world, so I never assume that you see the world in the same way that I do. I focus on understanding how you see the world and identifying ways to support you.