Coaching, Counselling and Therapy, Online and in Chorley
As therapists we try to walk our talk, and both Sue and I are committed to our 
own growth and development.
I am a white male, born in 1951. Before meeting Sue, I had spent much of my life in Liverpool. We now live and work in Chorley. I have many years experience at working online, and by phone – I do think there is an advantage when choosing online therapy in choosing a therapist in your own area if you can.
Counselling and Psychotherapy. I work as a BACP Senior Accredited/Registered counsellor and psychotherapist, having begun working with others in the late 1980s. The list of things I can help with is too long to put here, but to give you some idea, I have helped recent clients with
- relationship issues, including family, workplace and intimate relationships
- depression
- panic attacks, fearfulness and feelings of inadequacy
- the loss of someone close
- disappointments and meaninglessness in life
- stress, anxiety and relaxation training
- preparation for interviews and presentations.
I work within the Person-Centred Experiential method of counselling. This method of counselling is in agreement with my own core values: a deep respect for others and for myself, a deep willingness to experience and understand what you are feeling as a valid reaction to what is going on in your life, and the willingness to work hard with you in an open, real and honest way.
How does this work? – I think every client comes to their own way of describing how it has worked for them, but the important thing is simply that it has worked. From my own experience of being a client, it felt miraculous, like the sun was rising after a dark night, that I could gradually see the world – including my life with its problems – in a different, more useful way. And many of the problems I thought were very threatening seemed to become easy to resolve, or vanish completely…..
I have had over 400 hours of my own personal therapy, and attended about 750 hours of developmental groups of one kind or another – plenty of experience at being in the other chair! I find that this deep experience of being a client (besides helping me transform my own life) has helped me in my work with clients enormously.
I have both a PostGraduate Diploma and a Master of Arts in Counselling, and a postgraduate diploma in the psychology of human potential (now called Transpersonal Psychology and Consciousness). I have completed a course on person-centred counselling groupwork. I have a certificate in Understanding Human Relationships using the Enneagram. I began my working life as a pharmacist in general practice (retail) at all levels of management, and thus have a deep knowledge of the drugs used to support mental health (- I no longer work in retail). A full list of my qualifications is at the bottom of this page.
I have worked with both male and female clients as a counsellor. My clients have lived through most of the kinds of difficulties you might imagine – I have worked with so many people since 1995 – but this is something I would expect to discuss with you when we meet. For several years I saw primarily male clients – my own life experience of men’s issues seems valuable to male clients generally, and I have a separate page on this site describing my work with men(link). For many years I worked with an adoption charity involved with re-introducing adopted children to their parents.
I take quality control very seriously, and ask all my counselling clients to complete questionnaires from time to time, to chart our progress in some objective way. As well as charting our progress, these questionnaires are very useful at predicting (roughly) how many sessions you might require to meet your goals. I have compared my results with NHS provided therapy here(link).
Coaching and Training. Counselling often includes some coaching methods, as the need to learn specific life-skills becomes obvious. As well as the qualifications and experience that I bring to counselling and psychotherapy, that I have listed above, I am a Certified Master Practitioner of NLP (from INLPTA in 1997). (Occasionally coaching will include some counselling, but less often.)
I have also coached many clients in stress-reduction and relaxation techniques, and other skills of great benefit in the working environment, to all members of the workforce, up to and including the CEO, both one-to-one and in groups. I began working in retail as a management trainee in 1973, and supervised and mentored many people in the workplace during my retail career.
I have practised relaxation techniques and mindfulness personally since the early 1990s.
General. Most of my work has been face to face, but I have a very great deal of experience at distance work, including both online and telephone work – I actually started with distance work in the 80s!
I ask my private clients to pay an amount between £30 and £60 a session, depending on their own ability to pay, and when they are able to attend. This would be agreed at the first session. If we decide for any reason not to work together, there will be no charge (any deposit I have received for the first session will be refunded).
I work with adult clients only – say over sixteen. I work with couples as a life-coach, relaxation and mindfulness trainer, but rarely as a counsellor or psychotherapist. What I do works for those couples who are fully committed to their relationship, and wish to enhance their communication skills and coping strategies together. However, if you are likely to have a screaming row while you are in the session with me, it is couples counselling that you need, and that isn’t one of my strengths. Much better to see a specialist relationship therapist – who I can recommend if asked.
Confidentiality is central to all the work we do. Confidentiality starts immediately you get in touch with me, and I go over my ways of keeping things confidential, and my implementation of the GPDR, at the start of our first session. I would encourage you to ask as many questions as you need about confidentiality – the work cannot be started without you being sure about this.
My Qualifications include:
Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling (Liverpool JMU)
INLPTA Diploma and Practitioner Certificate in NLP (Excellence for All)
Master of Arts in Counselling (Liverpool JMU)
INLPTA Master Practitioner of NLP (Excellence for All)
Postgraduate Diploma in the Psychology of Human Potential (Liverpool JMU)
Certificate of Course Attendance in Group Process Facilitation and Theory (PCCS Manchester)
Certificate in Understanding Human Relationships (Emmaus House & St Brendan’s College, Bristol)
Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (Liverpool JMU, former member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and the Institute of Pharmacy Management International)
Accredited by BUPA(link)and several other therapy providers.
BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist (click on the badge to verify)
More About:
Counselling (more about counselling)
Psychotherapy (more about psychotherapy)
Life-skills coaching (more about coaching)
Counselling and Coaching for Men (more about working with men)