Our Counselling Services

Welcome to The Mulberry Practice

If this is your first time in therapy, welcome. My guess is that getting started can be pretty scary — to talk to someone you do not know about things that make you uncomfortable, sad, angry, overjoyed, or embarrassed — but we would like to reassure you that this process is here to help you grow. There are certain elements necessary in therapy in order to maintain a space of positivity, growth, and healing. Yet, you are not responsible for maintaining those elements. That is the job of the therapist — our job.

It is imperative that we maintain a judgment-free space, a space that is challenging but comforting, and a process that is enlightening as well as retrospective, be open about your experience as it unfolds.

Our Services

Counselling
Individual Counselling
Couples Counselling
Young People 18+

Appointments available

Mondays to Saturdays
(excluding Bank Holidays)
9.00 am until 5.00 pm

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What kind of counselling do we offer?

We offer integrative counselling. This means that we draw from many different approaches including systemic, psychodynamic, person-centred and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) seeing each person as an individual and shaping their approach accordingly. You are welcome to discuss our approaches and what might work best for you at your assessment appointment.

We use our expertise to tailor our approach specifically to you and your experiences. There will be plenty of opportunities to discuss how well you both feel the sessions are working, and to reshape or alter things where necessary. We want you to get the most you can from your counselling.

Individual
Counselling

Couples
Counselling

Young people
18+ Counselling

We offer support for

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is a term used for people who have excessive difficulties with concentration without the presence of other ADHD symptoms such as excessive impulsiveness or hyperactivity. The official term from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV is “ADHD of the predominantly inattentive type.” However, in practice ADD is a much more appropriate term. ADD is more common in girls but it can occur quite often in boys also. Some children with ADD are also impulsive but have never been hyperactive. This impulsiveness can adversely affect their social skills interaction.

Occasionally a child with ADD is so demoralised, so anxious, and depressed or self-harming, that these are seen as being the key issues rather than the underlying concentration weakness. ADD has a very different presentation from the hyperactive impulsive type of ADHD but it frequently co-occurs within the same family, with some children of the family having ADHD and some ADD.

Addiction is a struggle on many levels. Addiction to alcohol or other drugs is hard to control. It can make you feel guilty or ashamed. It can strain your relationships at home and at work.

So why isn’t it easier to quit drinking or using? It helps to understand the connection between addiction and anxiety.

We offer support for addiction, drugs and alcohol for both those supporting or impacted by an individual’s addiction, or those wishing to seek support for their own addictions.

ADHD, or Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is one of the more common neurodevelopmental disorders that effects children. Often lasting up into adult years, common symptoms include being hyperactive, be unable to control impulsive behaviours and have trouble concentrating and paying attention. Although most children can have issues with focusing or concentrating on tasks, those with ADHD can have this issue affect them up until their adult life. This can cause difficulty at home, friends or in educational settings.

The relationship between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression is deep and complex.

Understanding why these two conditions often co-occur and perhaps more important, how to think about treatment when you have both may help you develop better mental and physical health.

Both can usually be improved with a combination of psychotherapy and medication – especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

We offer support for those suffering from mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, and OCD.

Everyone forms attachments to others, both children and adults. Attachment issues arise when individuals are apart for any period of time. Most people don’t like to be separated from those they love, but for those with attachment issues, being separated triggers various problems for them.

During childhood, everyone forms connections in the brain, so they can interact socially, emotionally, and mentally. When a child is raised in an abusive or neglectful environment, the links they make are maladaptive. Children living in an unhealthy home environment make connections that help them “survive,” and they learn to rely on these maladaptive survival skills long past the time when they’re needed. When these children become adults, the social, emotional, and mental skills they have developed can cause difficulties. Adults who suffer from attachment issues display behaviour and thought patterns that are destructive to relationships.

We offer support for both those supporting or impacted by an individual’s attachment issues, or those wishing to seek support for their own attachment disorder.

Bipolar disorders, or manic-depressive illness, is a group of disorders characterised by the presence of pronounced high-energy phases known as manic episodes. Typically, unusual shifts in mood and energy manifest in increased activity levels and impair the ability to function. The impairment created by bipolar disorder can be severe and can result in damaged relationships, poor job, or school performance, and even suicide.

There are several different types of bipolar disorder:

  • Bipolar I disorder refers to a condition in which an individual experiences a full-blown manic episode for at least one week and may or may not also experience depression. The manic symptoms may be so severe that hospitalisation is required. Psychology Today – DSM-5
  • Bipolar II refers to the presence of a current or past hypomanic episode, which is a slightly less severe form of mania lasting at least four consecutive days, as well as the presence of a current or past episode of major depression.
  • Cyclothymic disorder, or cyclothymia, refers to recurring hypomanic and depressive mood shifts over at least a two-year period in adults.

Treatment for a personality disorder usually involves a talking therapy. This is where the person talks to a therapist to get a better understanding of their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Treatment can last several months or years, depending on the severity of the condition and other problems the person may have.
As well as listening and discussing important issues with the person, the therapist may identify strategies to resolve problems and, if necessary, help them change their attitudes and behaviour.

Childhood trauma is an event, situation, or environment you experienced as a child that left you feeling vulnerable and like you couldn’t count on the world or other people to keep you safe. For many, childhood trauma has the unfortunate consequence of affecting your ways of thinking and of relating to the world and others as an adult. This can mean you find life at times challenging and difficult in ways that you might not be able to logically explain.

Dissociative identity disorder, formerly referred to as multiple personality disorder, is characterised by a person’s identity fragmenting into two or more distinct personality states. People with this condition are often victims of severe abuse.

According to the DSM-5, the following criteria must be met for an individual to be diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder:
The individual experiences two or more distinct identities or personality states (each with its own enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self). The disruption in identity involves a change in sense of self, sense of agency, and changes in behaviour, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and motor function. Frequent gaps are found in the individual’s memories of personal history, including people, places, and events, for both the distant and recent past. These recurrent gaps are not consistent with ordinary forgetting. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

If you are living with an abusive partner and intend to continue to do so, I can help you to increase your strength and resilience in the relationship. Learn strategic ways of communicating with an abusive person. If you want to leave an abusive partner I can help empower you to make the decision. Develop a safety plan and strategies to make the move when you feel ready. I can help with strategies to cope with any negative impacts.

We offer support for domestic violence victims, for both those currently living with and have previously lived with abuse.

Treatment for a personality disorder usually involves a talking therapy. This is where the person talks to a therapist to get a better understanding of their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Treatment can last several months or years, depending on the severity of the condition and other problems the person may have. As well as listening and discussing important issues, the therapist may identify strategies to resolve problems and, if necessary, help them change their attitudes and behaviour.

Many people with a personality disorder recover over time. Psychological or medical treatment is often helpful, but support is sometimes all that’s needed. There’s no single approach that suits everyone – treatment is tailored to the individual.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly referred to PTSD, is a conditional that is triggered by an event which has occurred in the past by the sufferer. This can either be experiencing it first hand or even just being present at the cause. This can lead to difficulty coping in certain situations, anxiety and depression which can last for weeks, months or even years. Getting effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can be critical to reduce symptoms and improve function.

Symptoms of PTSD include extreme anxiety, nightmares, bad thoughts and feelings about the incident and even flashbacks.

Personality can affect one’s ability to find happiness in relationships, but it is never the only factor, and it does not have to be a roadblock. Attachment style, for example, can have a significant influence on relationship success. Individuals with an “insecure” attachment style, a trait typically developed in childhood, may be highly anxious about the security of their adult relationships or may avoid commitment altogether. But an awareness of one’s tendencies to resist or stress out about finding love, and a willingness to talk to partners about it, can help individuals manage their challenges ad find a path to a healthy long-term relationship.

Counselling

“Empathy is a special way of coming to know another and our self, a kind of attuning and understanding. When empathy is extended, it satisfies our needs and wish for intimacy, it rescues us from our feelings of aloneness”.

Carl Rogers