About me
Hi there…. I’m Annette. I am down to earth, genuine, compassionate and a curious person-centred therapist. I have a neuro-affirming informal style of practice which I believe helps anyone to be as comfortable as possible. I’m without judgement, which allows our sessions to be a place to explore ourselves without the pressure of social norms.
I’m an integrative therapist and I work using different modalities as well as being person-centred. Psycho-education is also helpful to understand our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, so I share fact-based evidence to support potential change as a resource to understanding ourselves.
I’m curious to understand how you experience yourself in your world, so we would work collaboratively.
I also have everyday neuro-spicy lived-experience in my family life, so some strategies, ideas and suggestions are drawn from my biggest toolbox, my own self!
Ways of Working
Getting some understanding about what’s going on in your life, it might help you to take a look at how the past has shaped your life, and this can help you move forwards positively.
Your phenomenological experience of life is felt, and I really do want to know about what you’ve experienced and how you feel about your unique world. It could be that you are a neurodivergent person and want to explore and understand the conditions and challenges of living in a neuro-typical world. Finally, the world could begin to make sense now that you have the pieces to your own jigsaw that were hidden in the box until now.
I am also a Relate-trained couples counselling practitioner. I work with neuro-typical, neuro-diverse or mixed neuro-types. I work with all relationships and the implicit ways that we relate within the relationship. My work is to enable couples better understanding and communication with each other in a safe and positive way…leading to greater understanding of who and what they are, what they want to become and how do that as a couple. I work together with you to discover habit-patterns and behaviours that couples find themselves unhelpfully stuck in, which sometimes can be hurtful to the relationship and the individuals. Couple-work in therapy helps to create new communication in the relationship that leads to closeness, understanding, freedom and security.
I work online and in person for individual therapy. But for couples therapy I prefer to work in person from my comfortable therapy room within Croft Myl in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
After you’ve initially got in touch, I offer a free 20-minute phone call – to see if we feel that we can work together and how that might look. My work times are Tuesday – Thursday daytime and evening, and some Saturdays. I offer weekly and fortnightly appointments. We can work short-term with solution-focused therapy or at a different pace for discovery without a time-limit
The Types of Issues I Support Neurodivergent Clients With
- Identity work – realising, or a new diagnosis of Autism, ADHD or AuDHD.
- Life history – reflective meaning-making of the past with a neurodivergent perspective.
- Explore and understand emotional wellbeing and mental health. Self-care and health.
- Life management and coaching: developing strategies and understanding.
- Feelings, becoming regulated emotionally. Recognising burnout.
- Learning your strengths.
- Becoming comfortable with who you are, self-compassion and acceptance.
- Relational skills – workplace/love-relationships/friendships.
- Intimacy, desire.
Qualifications
Relate-trained PGCert Relational Counselling, Systemic Couple Counselling.
PG Dip Counselling and Psychotherapy.
BSc (Hons) Social Sciences (Social Psychology).
Additional CPD Specific to Neurodiversity
I have 7 years of counselling experience and in the last three years my practice has progressed to focus on neurodiverse clients and couples.
I am an Accredited Member of BACP, member number: 38814, (British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy). I comply with their Code of Ethics.
I have become a member of Aspire Consultancy, which means I have completed:
- Neuro-Divergent Couples Course – Aspire Autism consultancy.
- Best Practice when Supporting Autistic Clients – Aspire Autism Consultancy.
- ADHD in The Therapy Room – Aspire Autism Consultancy.
I regularly attend Aspire Consultancy’s Monthly CPD Group focusing on Neurodiversity.