Amy Smith Counselling

“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward” (Soren Kierkegaard, Philosopher)

I am here to help you make sense of your life up to this point, while also working with you to achieve your goals for counselling, so you can go out and live your life in a more satisfying way than before.

About Me

Welcome to my page. You may have found yourself here because you need some help or support, or perhaps you have some questions about counselling and whether it is right for you. I hope I can answer some of those questions below.

Are you a regulated counsellor?

I am pleased to be able to reassure you that I am an experienced, fully insured, counsellor practicing for close to a decade. I have been in private practice since 2018.

I am a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP) which means I adhere to their professional standards and code of ethics.

What type of counselling do you do?

I am a trauma-focused therapist which means that I take account of any trauma that you may have experienced in your life and whether it could be impacting you now.

There are different types of therapy and I use a combination of the Transactional Analysis, Gestalt and Person Centred models of counselling.

How we work together will depend on your goals for counselling, so the service will be bespoke to your needs.

What type of clients do you see?

I see a diverse range of clients from their 20s to their 80s, both men and women.

Can you help me with my problem?

I can support you if you are suffering from anxiety and depression, low mood, irritation, dissatisfaction in relationships, poor sleep, loneliness, despair and lack of hope.

I am experienced in working with adults who have experienced trauma and difficult relationships in their childhood and teenage years. I support my clients to recover and heal, find healthier coping strategies, so they can ultimately go on to live fuller lives and enjoy better relationships.

I have a special interest in working with the dynamics of living in a family where there are addiction and mental health problems, for example, but not limited to, if you are a child, parent or sibling

Why talk to a counsellor and not someone else in your life?

You may or may not have people in your life you can talk to, but whatever your situation, counselling can be a helpful support to add to your life, another “string to your bow”.

Counselling will be unlike other relationships that you might have, for example with friends, family members or work colleagues, and this is the magic!

This therapeutic relationship is “one way” because it is about you, you are at the heart of everything that we do. We meet together, either online or face to face, typically at the same time and day each week, to work on the problem that you are coming to counselling with.

The gift of counselling is being able to talk freely and in confidence, to somebody who is not connected to your life, so you can leave each session safe in the knowledge that our meetings are protected by a confidentiality agreement.

I support you to find your own path through with my support and the information that I will share with you. I will share my knowledge with you so that you are empowered to make decisions about your own life. My hope is that you will gain awareness and clarity, so that going forwards, when you are in relationships with other people or dealing with your emotions, you can act from a position of awareness and choice, rather than operating from autopilot.

You may have been given advice by friends and family, and often this is well meaning. In my experience, people are able to make lasting change when they come up with their own solutions to their problems. I am not here to tell you what to do, but to support you in exploring what options are available to you and what would best suit your unique needs.

I am passionate about providing you with a calm, supportive environment, where you can be yourself, to share your vulnerabilities, hopes and fears, your highs and your lows. I am not here to judge you or anyone else in your life.

Let’s acknowledge that it can feel like taking a leap of faith talking to someone you don’t know, but I hope this feeling soon passes as we build a therapeutic relationship and it won’t feel like you are talking to a stranger for long.

Training

  • Certificate in Trauma Focused Therapy (March 2023) 

  • Working with Trauma Masterclass (March 2022) 

  • Video and Phone Counselling, BACP with The Open University (2023)

  • Certificate in Counselling Skills, Level 3, West Kent College

  • Award in Counselling Concepts, Level 2, West Kent College

  • Crisis Volunteer Certificate, Shout (November 2019) 

  • Advanced Diploma in Humanistic Counselling (2012-2015)

  • AQA Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at Level 5 (October 2012)

Experience

  • Volunteer Counsellor at West Kent Mind in Sevenoaks (2013 to 2017) 

  • Counsellor at Hartfield & Groombridge GP Surgery (2018)

  • Private Practise Counsellor working face to face and via Zoom (Since 2018)

  • I run a “Walk for Health” walking group in Kent, once a month.

Costs & Practicalities

I offer face to face counselling sessions from my home in Sevenoaks, Kent, and I also work online using Zoom.

Our first session will be an assessment session for me to find out about you, as well as for you to meet me and get a flavour of what it might be like to work together. After the assessment session, you are under no obligation to go forward with therapy. If you do decide that it might be for you, I typically recommend 6-8 sessions.,

Assessment Session (60 minutes): £60.00

Counselling Sessions (60 minutes): £60.00