ABOUT MY PRACTICE
ABOUT RALLENTANDO THERAPY AND ME
TRAINING
I offer counselling for adults, as individuals or in couples/any form of relationship for as long or short a time as you need, offering spacious listening to encourage recovery and growth. I chose the name Rallentando for my counselling practice partly because in music it means slowing down.
You may have experienced difficult events, leaving you struggling, frazzled and tense, unable to breathe, This is where a space to talk can help.
You may be struggling in a relationship, and a space to hear each other may be supportive for you, whether you choose to have a future together or apart.
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Taking time to slow down and focus on the deeper picture of your life, the undertones, the things that are hard to give words to, can help you to become all that you can be. Letting the tough stuff become part of your growth and taking a gentle pace allows the unique rhythm of your life to be heard in all its richness.
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Coming for counselling takes guts, and to be able to face the painful and difficult aspects of life with courage and self-compassion is something precious. It can be lifechanging.
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I know the power of being listened to and really heard without judgment. I offer this quality of warm and spacious listening to clients, supporting you to face what is causing you pain, to recover and to grow.
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Together we explore the roots of what troubles you and its impact on your current thinking and feeling. Drawing on your strengths, interests and instinct for life, we work together as a team on your process of recovery and growth.
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If it's something that appeals to you, I can use the latest research in neuroscience, creativity or mindfulness to assist you in your exploration of yourself and to support you in your life going forward.
Sessions are face-to-face in my therapy room (pictured above) in the beautiful village of New Abbey or over zoom. Sessions last for an hour. There is parking at my therapy room for people with a disability and equality of access to all facilities. Sessions cost £50. (£75 for an hour and a half for couples). I keep some availability for clients on low or no income; please enquire about availability..
For those interested in theory, my training is humanistic and integrative which means I draw on a number of different styles of therapy to meet your needs. These include Person-Centred, Gestalt, Transactional Analysis and Psychodynamic/Object Relations approaches, along with narrative, mindfulness-based and systemic approaches. .I work in a trauma-informed way.
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Qualifications and Courses::
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CPPD London Counselling School Advanced Diploma in Humanistic Integrative Counselling 2019-2022 including working with children and young people, and short courses including working with trauma, eating disorders, addictions, bereavement, time limited counselling, CBT, neuroscience and attachment
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Open Dialogue Practitioner Training 2021
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Mindfulness based stress reduction 8 week course, University of Bangor Centre for Mindfulness Studies 2021.
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Tavistock and Portman: Diploma in Family Therapy 2015-2017
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Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy 2014​
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AREAS i WORK WITH include
EXPERIENCE
I am a BACP accredited counsellor and psychotherapist, meaning that my practice has met BACP's higher standard as a competent, ethical and independent practitioner.
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Prior to becoming a counsellor, I undertook an intermediate training in family therapy and am topping this up with a couples and relationship counselling certificate (due to complete in October 2025).
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Since qualifying as a counsellor/psychotherapist, I have had experience of offering counselling in a low cost service and in a local occupational health consultancy as well as in private practice so am used to working with a broad variety of people both short term and long term..I offer counselling with a local housing provider as part of their staff wellbeing service, and have taught counselling skills with a Scottish counselling training provider.
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I have held a variety of roles in pastoral care, mental health, management, equality and diversity within the NHS in acute general, palliative and mental health services. I have over 30 years of experience in listening roles.
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Individual counselling.or psychotherapy
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Couples and Relationship therapy
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Creativity, mindfulness and visualisation
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How early relationships shape our sense of ourselves
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Relationships of all kinds in adult life
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Trauma
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Bereavement and loss of all kinds
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Workplace issues
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Stress, depression and anxiety
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Mental health difficulties
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Spirituality and finding a meaning in life that works for you
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Childlessness by circumstance (not choice)
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Relationship with food
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Medically unexplained chronic pain
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Addiction
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Making sense of your life
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The impact of stigma
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Eco-therapy
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Using neuroscience therapeutically
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Counselling for students
I'm registered with COSCA and accredited by BACP, (the professional bodies for counsellors in Scotland and in the wider UK) and work to their codes of ethics. I am required, like all COSCA registrants, to include here a link to Cosca's complaints policy: https://cosca.org.uk/guidance-policies/complaints
I also have PVG registration (2303 0901 8191 2420) and am registered with the Information Commissioners' Office as a keeper of data.
"Counselling with you has made me feel alive again after the most difficult years of my life"
"You created an open, listening and supportive environment"
"Counselling helped me explore the roots of thoughts and feelings and regain confidence and creativity"
CONTACT ME
Please feel free to call or email if you'd like to explore having sessions with me. I'd be glad to hear from you.
PHONE
07826 687188
I work on Zoom or face-to-face in my therapy room in Dumfries.