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Struggling with life issues and feeling overwhelmed? Or feeling stuck with where and what you are doing now and in the foreseeable future? I help adults who are struggling to deal with issues that are bringing them down, holding them back.

I'm a professionally qualified counsellor and registered with the Íø±¬ÃÅ. I also previously trained and practiced as an Executive Coach.

I help adults who are struggling to deal with issues that are bringing them down and holding them back, helping them to work out what is going on and to assist them to find answers and solutions to help them progress and grow, rather than be stuck and overwhelmed by life events.

As a counsellor I have experience of working with a number of challenges, these include:

• Feeling anxious and fearful, struggling to cope with life

• Life threatening illness, such as cancer, dealing with the thoughts of mortality and coping with the treatment process for yourself or a loved one

• Bereavement – grieving for the death of someone

• Loss – of a life, a relationship, a job, a future plan

• Relationships that are not what they were or what you want now

• Lack of confidence and self-esteem, imposter syndrome, in a work or social environment

• Career/work matters –promotion, change, objectives, redundancy, stress, retirement

Feeling worried and struggling with what to do, being angry, fearful, hiding away, using unhelpful means of distraction are reactions we all experience at some point in our life. Life is sometimes hard. At these times it might be worth considering getting help to work through these things. I can help you make sense of what's going on and assist you to become ‘unstuck’.

My approach is fundamentally grounded in the person-centred counselling approach. I believe that each person is unique, and they have the answers they are looking for when in distress. The issues mentioned above may be universal, but you are unique. My role is to ‘hold a mirror’ that enables you to become more self-aware and to work with you to figure out what you want and how to progress.

The relationship we build is critical. I seek to provide a safe, welcoming environment where trust can be carefully built. Clients says that what they appreciate is that I am a good listener, and they feel comfortable opening up to talk about important personal matters. I seek to be non-judgemental, and they appreciate the relationship which forms enabling compassion, challenge, empathy, genuineness and humour to be present.

There are also times when you may be looking for guidance and assistance, in work and career matters for example, where you may want a more direct approach. This is something that I am comfortable with and, by exception, can bring my coaching experience to bear.

This approach has developed over the last 30+ years of my working life having worked in large international businesses in management and as an Associate Partner in an international advisory business. Towards the end of this career, I trained and worked as part of my management role as an Executive Coach working with new partners and partner candidates seeking promotion. At retirement I completed a Counselling Skills course at Manchester College and then a Counselling and Psychotherapy MSc at Keele University.

Over the last 4 years I have been based in Wythenshawe, Withington and Trafford hospitals as a counsellor working with clients referred to a cancer charity (Macmillan). Previously I also volunteered with a mental health charity (Mind) in Ashton, and with a young person’s charity in Macclesfield (Just Drop In) working with 17-24 year olds. 

Please get in touch and we can have a free 30 minute talk, online or by phone, to see if I am the right fit for you. I will ask you some questions and I will be very happy to answer any questions you have. Assuming you wish to progress, we will arrange a mutually convenient day, time and place to meet for 50-60 minute sessions. My counselling room is in Didsbury and is a comfortable, private space. Typically the sessions will be face to face, I believe this facilitates the relationship building, however, we can also work together on-line using Teams or similar for some or all sessions if this is preferred/the only way you can work. We would normally meet weekly or bi-weekly. The number of sessions we would have is determined by you, bearing in mind for the relationship to build and the therapy to work a number of sessions will be required. I aim to be as flexible as possible in order to support you.

Please do contact me for up to date availability on both face-to-face and remote sessions.

***PLEASE NOTE that requests via the Íø±¬ÃÅ enquiry system do not always reach me, so it's always best to also email me at ian.haywood27@hotmail.com