Meet Me
Allow me to introduce myself
As you know, my name is Sharon and I am a Therapeutic Counsellor and Somatic Trauma Informed Coach.
I am a Registered and Accredited Member of the BACP.
(British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy)
Below is some additional information about my beliefs and values to help you to decide if we could be a good match. It really does matter as working with the right therapist for you is one of the most important parts of your therapy experience.
Back to life
You can probably tell from most of my website photos that I love being by water, be that a harbour or the sea. There's something both calming and restorative in that for me...even better when richly coloured by a sunrise or sunset.
Passion, inspiration and connection, are all things that I feel have likely gone missing for us when we seek counselling. They had certainly gone missing for me! ~ I really do feel that my own therapy brought me back to life, it helped me to start living rather than just existing.
Now all three of these give me a sense of meaning and purpose in my own life, and are inextricably linked to my work and what I can offer you.
I am passionate about all of my therapeutic work and feel forever inspired by my clients and their capacity for growth and change... Post Traumatic Growth is real.
Our greatest pain
Through my own difficult life experiences, and through helping others through theirs, I've come to greatly appreciate the value of self-respect and self-care. These will mean different things to different people and learning what our own versions look like can be both surprising and enlightening ~ It may not be what you think!
I appreciate that we are all different and sadly our differences are often rejected by ourselves.
Rejecting and abandoning ourselves is what often causes us the greatest pain.
Game changers
I value kindness and self-compassion as a powerful resource ~ if we have not been taught how to be self-compassionate, we will naturally struggle with this...this is not our fault.
I value autonomy, personal empowerment and consciously granting ourselves permissions ~ We may experience inner conflict as we withold permissions from ourselves, often unconsciously, and this can be self-limiting.
I value being able to trust our own truth and connect to a sense of personal meaning and purpose ~ We may have learnt to not trust ourselves and we will suffer as a result.
I believe that our experiences can change us, but they do not define who we are ~ A heart-felt and embodied understanding of this really can be a game changer for us.
My Counselling career
I qualified as a Therapeutic Counsellor in 2006 and I've been working as a counsellor and clinical supervisor in various settings ever since - public, private and voluntary.
At first my therapeutic work was part time, alongside my role as a Youth Worker.
I held a portfolio lead position in The Dorset Youth & Community Service, managing a county-wide team providing supervision for youth workers and 1:1 mentoring and coaching for 18-24 yr olds.
I also designed and facilitated a personal and social development project for young people in further education within Children's Services, Dorset County Council.
After qualifying as a Therapeutic Counsellor, I counselled in a Women's Refuge on a voluntary basis for several years, and then moved into working as a High Intensity Counsellor and Clinical Supervisor in various GP surgeries within the NHS.
My NHS work spanned 10 years in total and was mostly focused around supporting clients through depression and anxiety.
It was whilst working in the NHS that I gained my specialism in Counselling for Depression, with The Metanoia Institute, London.
Alongside the work above, I founded my private practice in 2007, initially counselling in Weymouth and Dorchester, Dorset.
As both my passion for counselling and my practice grew, I decided to focus on this full time.
My practice is now exclusively online and I offer both counselling and trauma therapy sessions via Zoom video across the whole of the UK.
At a glance...
- Primary Care - Senior High Intensity Counsellor NHS (10yrs +) - specialising in Counselling for Depression
- 'Professional Help' - Specialist Bereavement Counselling Service
- 'Time to Talk' Initiative - Counselling for Carers
- Local Business - Counselling for employees
- National Organisations, Agencies and Charities
- RUSS - (Road User Support Service) - Road Traffic Accident Trauma related counselling
- Senior Counsellor (Further Education) - Assessing & Counselling students, Weymouth College
- Higher Education - Counselling students, Bournemouth University
- Women's Refuge (4yrs) - Domestic Abuse counselling
- In addition to my counselling work, I have lead 'Pattern Changing' personal development courses for women who have experienced domestic abuse - specialist facilitator training with Dorset County Council & BCHA.
It's always the simple things...
I love sunsets and sunrises ~ I'm rarely up early enough to catch the latter and I take photos of sunsets at any opportunity...see my homepage!
I love to be inspired by a good book and to wander by the sea or in nature, especially wrapped up snug and warm on a crisp cold, blustery day ~ There's nothing quite like 'blowing the cobwebs'.
To get lost in a film is a real treat and I love to dance, even if just around my lounge ~ lots would say their kitchen but that's really not my favourite room in the house!
If you feel drawn to working with me, send me your message via one of the contact forms and I'll get back to you within 48 hours.