Virginia Stirling
Member Status: Accredited
Member No: NCS17-05265
Location: St Neots
I am a National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) Accredited Registrant Therapist experienced in working with young people, adults and couples from a range of backgrounds; including working with those experiencing anxiety and depression and survivors of violence and abuse. I work in a person-centred way offering a confidential, supportive and non-judgmental, safe space for you to share whatever is on your mind.
Our busy lives sometimes make it difficult to find the time to really think through what we need to and having someone truly listen to you and hear what you want to express, whatever it is, can be very powerful and can make all the difference to finding long term solutions for things that are stopping us from feeling and being the best that we can be.
Many of us experience feelings of anxiety or persistent low mood during our lives and I believe that providing a safe place for a person to tell their story, where they will be heard without judgement and helped to understand what is making them distressed or unhappy, in order to manage their feelings more effectively, provides a strong basis for therapy. I appreciate and respond to all of the clients that I work with as individuals and tailor my therapeutic approach to match their needs. I place a good deal of emphasis upon working within the Humanistic Model of counselling, offering a person centred approach; listening and helping the client to explore any problems that they may have; offering acceptance and support to help address feelings resulting from trauma, of emotional low mood and symptoms of depression and anxiety. I also work, where appropriate, with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)techniques to help clients to overcome habitual negative thinking and find a more positive way forward.
Counselling is not about telling you what to do or giving advice but it is about offering to see and feel things from your point of view, to 'get alongside you' offering encouragement for a happier future.
I offer a safe, confidential space for you to share your thoughts and feelings, where you will be accepted, and do not have to fear judgement or criticism. Taking the first step towards getting counselling support can be scary and I am more than happy to talk on the phone with you before we meet to talk through what you are seeking help with and for us to decide whether we should meet for an initial session to see if the counselling relationship will work for you. After that, if we both feel that the counselling will be beneficial for you, we can agree to meet on a weekly basis. I offer short term and longer term therapy so you don't need to worry about deciding how many sessions might be helpful in the first instance, we can discover that as we work together.
I provide 50-minute sessions throughout the week (including evenings) in a private and comfortable therapy room in Eaton Ford, St. Neots.
I believe that when you share what's going on for you within a consistently supportive and non-judgemental environment, you will be able to start making the changes you want to make or simply better understand how you really feel about things.
I hold a current Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check certificate for working with children and adults.
