So its been over a year since I branched out and began to work privately as a therapist and I thought I would share with you some of my journey and some changes that i’m making to my practice. Thanks to my friends, family and supervisor for encouraging me to be myself and develop a style of working that suits me and enables me to encourage and support others. Its that part of staying true to myself that has motivated me but also caused me to take risks and get through difficulties. I love being a therapist and have felt so privileged and humbled to have met so many wonderful people over this past year and have had the opportunity to support them. Being a  therapist is definitely not easy work, its not physical but your head gets a pounding that needs continuous developing skills to nurture and understand. However,  I am inspired every day by the people I meet and find I am continuously being challenged and stretched as a person and have actually developed a better relationship with myself. I will never be an expert of anyone but I hope to keep developing my understanding to enable others to become the expert of themselves.

As well as private practice I have started delivering workshops to veterinary professionals about mental health and well-being in practice. This idea came from my realisation early on in my counselling training that  developing skills and knowledge around resilience to stress and anxiety in work can actually make a very demanding job more enjoyable. I worked as a Veterinary Nurse for 12 years in a variety of practices and loved my work but found the stress too overwhelming on many occasions that made me want to leave consistently.  When I was training to become a counsellor I still worked as a Nurse , as I developed skills to look after myself mentally in training I enjoyed my Veterinary work more and engaged with it on a different level. Id love to be able to encourage others within the Veterinary profession to do the same. In October last year I hung up the stethoscope that was so firmly glued around my neck and  actually finally stopped working as a Veterinary Nurse. I miss my friends and the animals but it was right that I concentrate my energy towards therapy.

Working with young people at Off the Record this past year has been awesome as always, its been 4 years this summer. What a great service they are providing for 11-25yr olds in Bristol and now South Gloucestershire completely free. They are developing their ways of working fast to keep up with the current mental health trends in the UK and I’ve realised how necessary this is in order to help in the best ways possible.

So looking forward towards this next year i’m going to be splitting my working week between Bristol and South Devon. On a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will be available for counselling appointments in Bristol from my office on Park Street. On a Thursday and Friday I will be in South Devon and offering counselling appointments in various locations according to the demand. So far I have office space in Exeter but hope to be able to work from Totnes, Newton Abbot and Plymouth. I’m really excited about developing my work in Devon and spending more time there. I hope to enrich my own life more by doing the sports I enjoy and  being in an environment with aligns very much with my nature.

Do get in touch if you have any questions or counselling enquiries. If you are in the Veterinary Profession and think that your practice might benefit from having some workshops or support with the mental health and well-being of your team then do get in contact.

 

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