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I provide a service on week days between 9am and 8pm. I also provide a service on Sunday's between 9am and 5pm. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences.........

"Twenty years of medical research has shown that childhood adversity literally gets under our skin, changing people in ways that can endure in their bodies for decades. It can tip a child’s developmental trajectory and affect physiology. It can trigger chronic inflammation and hormonal changes that can last a lifetime. It can alter the way DNA is read and how cells replicate, and it can dramatically increase the risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes—even Alzheimer’s."

- Nadine Burke Harris (The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity)

About me........

I am a Pluralistic Counsellor which means I can draw from different modalities and theories that are unique and tailored to meet the needs of my clients in ways that are helpful to them. 

My counselling room is situated on Kirkcaldy High Street and can be accessed via the entry door to the Cupcake Coffee Kirkcaldy coffee shop. After you enter the building my room is located at the end of the corridor on the right-hand side. There are no access issues.

What can you expect from me?

Firstly, you can expect to be treated with respect. I will work with you in ways that promote the highest standards of trauma-informed care and practice. This means placing confidentiality and safety at the very heart of the work I undertake with clients.

I can offer counselling in my newly refurbished counselling room, which is located on Kirkcaldy High Street, and has been designed and decorated to reflect the highest standards and key principles of trauma-informed practice and care. We can also meet in the digital space via Zoom, Microsoft Teams or WhatsApp (online) if you prefer. Although I am a pluralistic counsellor, my specialism and interest is in trauma-informed practice, particularly focusing on issues from childhood e.g. sexual, physical, emotional and mental abuse, sexual assault, PTSD, and CPTSD).

What approaches do I use?

I use a person-centered approach to establish and maintain a healthy working relationship with my clients, but can draw from a psychodynamic approach to explore how your past might be affecting how your life is right now. Talking is hugely important to my clients, but also gaining an understanding of how our bodies impact our thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviours is important, too. This helps to establish a felt sense of safety during our counselling sessions and offers a foundation to explore your thoughts, emotions and feelings in a safe, empathic, supportive, and structured way. Being able to tell your story is important because it helps you to gain a better understanding of what it is that brought you to counselling in the first place. We will do this together.

Contracting

We will work together to complete a contract during your first session, which sets out what you can expect from your counselling sessions with me. This contract will be the foundation of the work we do. The foundation of this contract is to establish a safe environment for you to explore what is important to you and is in accordance with the Íø±¬ÃÅ Ethical Framework.

I underpin my counselling practice by establishing an environment that is sensitive, supportive, safe, and trauma-informed. I practice in ways that are non-judgmental, anti-discriminatory, collaborative and empathic. I place safety at the heart of the work I do and I will regularly consult with you to review and evaluate your counselling sessions with me. I constantly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your counselling sessions so we can make changes as we go, if required. This is designed to ensure you are getting the best from your counselling sessions and are able to help shape the direction of your journey. You know what is best for you. We gain insight of the presenting issues when we review and evaluate your sessions together, making changes as you go, if required.

Matthew 

The first session consists of me getting a bit more information about you and obtaining more details e.g. address, contact telephone number etc. I will go through the contract with you, which will form the basis of the work we do together. The foundation of this contract is safety. You will then be asked to complete a baseline assessment, which will be facilitated by me. We will try to make best use of the remaining time we have together in this first session. The focus will always be client centered. I have established my practice on Kirkcaldy High Street and have designed and decorated my counselling room t reflect the highest standards of trauma informed care and practice.