Justine Boardman
Member Status: Accredited
Member No: NCS16-03920
Location: Bury
With the right counsellor for you, the counselling process can be a life changing, life-enhancing experience.
Being able to speak openly and honestly, to someone who is listening carefully and non-judgementally, who will encourage you to fully understand yourself and is truly interested in how it feels to be you, can be a very powerful and life changing experience. The quality of the relationship and the sense of connection between a client and a counsellor is the source of therapeutic change. This supportive relationship can empower you to explore any changes that would benefit your life and increase your sense of well-being and happiness.
I believe that developing self -awareness and understanding is fundamental to positive change. In earlier sessions, we may spend time finding out who you are and what is happening in your life and relationships in the present. This exploration sometimes leads to how your past relationships and experiences have influenced your present attitudes and behaviours. Very often, it is in this self- understanding, the ‘A ha!’ moments, that new ways of being can emerge. Within the sessions I will support you to bring self- acceptance and self-compassion to your life and I will always encourage you to listen to your own inner wisdom.
I have a variety of tools and skills that I can share with you to support you in making any changes that you identify as important and desired. I believe that the answers are always within and with support, clients will discover what they need to do, say or change to experience healing and greater fulfilment in life.
It is often a specific problem which brings people to counselling and you may need to know that I have experience of working with many issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, abuse, relationship issues, life changing health diagnoses, bereavement and unwanted patterns of behaviour. I have worked with many people who are experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety and people who have symptoms and diagnoses of depression.
I have also worked with people who are experiencing symptoms of or have diagnoses of PTSD or CPTSD. I am trained to use the trauma therapy treatment called Brainspotting. Brainspotting has been proven to be effective in helping clients suffering from symptoms of trauma, which sometimes manifest themselves as high levels of stress and anxiety or depression. Trauma is the wound which is left after a traumatic event or period of time is over. The symptoms of trauma can be experienced in the present day even when the experience/s which were traumatic happened a long time ago in the past, even in very early childhood. Symptoms may include; strong reactions to certain triggers such as sounds, smells, places, difficulty sleeping, difficulty relating well to others, and a general sense of unease or discomfort in the body or mind. The client may be aware of the source of the trauma. Sometimes the experience has been ‘forgotten’ by the thinking mind. The body knows and keeps the score however and accessing healing through the body is a proven way to heal the symptoms of trauma which may be negatively affecting a person’s life and wellbeing.
I offer face to face counselling as well as telephone and Zoom counselling.