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I have availability face to face on Monday. Location is Lytham St Annes. Lancashire . FY8

I have on  line/phone  availability Tuesdays, evenings and weekend 

Hi, I'm Julie who lives in Preston, Lancashire.

I’m a  registered psychotherapist/counsellor  who gained all my Person Centred qualifications (1997 and 2025) at the University of Salford; graduating both times with distinction. 

 I am also a registered social worker with more than 30 years of practice  specializing in adoption, fostering and supporting birth families. I have lived experience  of family placement through significant relationships and caring for children not born to me. I currently have part time Local Authority contracted work(adoption support)  as well as working free lance within the voluntary sector (fostering) . 

I have 15 years’ experience of being a team and service manager holding  qualifications in strategic management and leadership. Therefore I  also bring to my practice an understanding of stress caused by work/life imbalance, competing demands, anxiety and feelings of overwhelm.

I am trained in the Person-Centered Approach but together we will decide what is going to help you the most, periodically reviewing sessions and the therapeutic relationship. In my counselling toolbox I  have Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)  and other strategies and principles learnt and developed through my career and personal life experience. 

Driven by maturity and purpose I bring lots of different parts of myself to the counselling role. I strive to be a safe pair of hands who can hold individuals as they navigate their counselling journey; drawing upon my theoretical learning and life experience. 

I come to you with a non judgemental attitude, compassion and honesty. I am respectful that clients give their experiences, time and money so reflection/ reviews are built into my practice model. 

Feeling stuck, overwhelmed, struggling with relationships or simply feeling lost and confused! . Sometimes life can just be hard. We don’t always know what is wrong: it just is!  Therefore, it is ok not to know what has brought you to counselling or why now! .....

I offer a safe, non-judgmental, collaborative space where we can explore experiences, work through challenges and where possible take back your power to make positive changes. Person Centred counselling truly enables the  gaining of insight, development of  healthy coping strategies and changes that are long lasting.  Respect, empathy and honesty are the values at the  core of my approach as I believe that genuine connection and formation of a trusting relationship  can be transformational. 

I specialize in all matters relating to families, relationships, adverse childhood experiences, parenting difficulties, estrangement, loss, identity, compassion fatigue and blocked care. Receiving inappropriate care "in utero and onwards" and experiencing  dysfunctional relationships/attachments with care givers often has a lasting negative impact on both mental and physical health. All matters that I am qualified to help with.  

I appreciate that not everyone has unlimited finance to invest in counselling so I always start therapy with a gentle exploration to find out what the client is hoping for. This enables for a flexible agreement to be made and periodically reviewed. However, in true Person Centred counselling style, every session belongs to the client to use as they wish...I will be the one holding those moments and quietly checking out if moving away from the original goal is feeling ok today! 

I start all therapy with a free 15 minute telephone consultation to ensure that we are a good fit!  If we decide that we want to proceed to counselling then the date and time of the first session is agreed. 

At the first session I will take basic information, outline expectations, explain what I do with your information   and complete with you some questions just to look at whether you are suffering any anxiety and/or depression symptoms. We will also talk about what you think has brought you to counselling and your hopes from the intervention. We will also agree the next few sessions so that we can create an appointment  plan so we  have both  continuity and joint commitment to the counselling journey that is about to unfold. . 

I offer concession to students who have to undertake counselling as part of their counselling/psychotherapy training.