Psychotherapy and Counselling in Cheltenham
In-person therapy for individuals with a registered and fully insured practitioner
07811 183837
About Me
Charlotte Speirs, Dip Psych Couns, FdA, BPC Reg
I am a MBACP and BPC registered psychotherapist and counsellor working in Cheltenham. I have been working in private practice for 10 years and beforehand within an agency setting at Gloucestershire Counselling Service.
I embarked on a career in counselling and psychotherapy many years ago following an experience of personal therapy that felt transformative. I wanted to continue on this path and to discover more about how therapy works.
People seek help for various reasons. It may be a generalised feeling that something is not quite right or something more specific such as depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties or a traumatic life event.
My interest is in helping people understand complex, often unconsciously based emotional and behavioural problems that can cause considerable distress. I see therapy as a process that makes deep-seated change possible, bringing relief, reducing symptoms and enabling people to feel they can make their own choices with greater confidence.
I am a Registrant of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) and adhere to both organisations' Codes of Ethics.
Qualifications:
- Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling (awarded by Westminster Pastoral Foundation)
- Foundation Degree in Psychodynamic Counselling (awarded by the University of the West of England)
- Associate Award in Psychodynamic Counselling (awarded by Gloucestershire Counselling Service)
I am currently completing a further professional training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Severnside Institute of Psychotherapy in Bristol
About Therapy
Many people find themselves feeling distressed or overloaded by life’s events and find it a relief to talk to someone outside of family, friends or colleagues. Therapy provides a safe and confidential place to explore feelings and difficulties, as well as reflect on hopes for the future. It offers an opportunity for deep-seated change.
The aims of psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy include helping you to understand and feel better within yourself. Through a process of increasing awareness and insight, it becomes possible to make sense of why we feel and act in certain ways, why we feel stuck in certain patterns and find it difficult to change. In helping people understand complex, often unconsciously based emotional and relationship problems, therapy can help alleviate distress, reduce symptoms and increase self-confidence.
The therapeutic relationship is central to the work of understanding the connections and patterns of your experiences. I provide a safe, personal space where you can talk about yourself and what troubles you and help you understand the meanings of thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Some people come because they feel stuck in the present, others feel they are trapped by their past and want to talk it through with someone. I will think with you about your current difficulties and explore how experiences and relationships in the past may be affecting your thoughts and feelings in the present.
I will not give advice or tell you what to do but help you reach a point where you feel able to make your own choices, affect change in your own life and come to terms with what cannot be changed.
I have experience of working with a wide range of issues that includes:
Anxiety · Stress · Loss · Bereavement · Depression · Panic attacks· Abuse · Trauma · Issues with identity, sexuality and gender · Boarding school issues· Difficulties with anger · Low self-esteem and low self-confidence · Feeling that life is empty or meaningless · Worries about taking decisions · Relationship issues · Work related problems
Fees and further information
Practical information
If you would like to find out more, I would be happy to hear from you. You can get in touch either by phone or email:
07811 183837
The next stage is to arrange an initial session so that we can meet each other, explore things further and decide how to take things forward.
This initial session and ongoing sessions last for 50 minutes and cost £60.
Sessions will be at regular times on a once weekly basis, or up to three times a week if required, to be agreed between us when we meet. My consulting room is in Leckhampton and there is plenty of parking available nearby.
It may be necessary occasionally to rearrange an appointment. If so, I will try to reschedule a time for you, however this is not always possible and missed appointments are payable.