Andrea Lawrence
Member Status: Accredited
Member No: NCS22-01735
Location: Teddington
Hello. I am an experienced Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counsellor offering short term or open-ended counselling online to individuals 16 years old and above.
You may have been feeling stressed, anxious or depressed for a while, or maybe you have experienced a significant loss or perhaps you are going through a period of change and not knowing what to do or feeling that no-one understands.
How counselling can help
Talking to someone in a safe, non judgemental, confidential setting can help. It can feel daunting talking to a counsellor about your innermost thoughts and feelings, especially for the first time. My aim is to help make your counselling experience easier for you, by supporting you through difficult times and by helping you to make sense of why you think and feel the way you do. We can explore what has brought you to counselling, looking at how your past experiences are affecting your present, leading to change and a greater understanding of yourself.
I am experienced in working with grief and loss (including job loss, relationship breakdown, sense of identity and bereavement) and the impact of it, low self esteem, depression, anxiety, trauma, long term/ongoing health conditions, stress and painful childhood experiences.
Understanding yourself and why you feel the way you do can be life-changing. It can lead to feeling empowered to make different choices, breaking down the barriers and living the life you want to live.
I believe that it is important that you, as the client, feel you can talk freely to me and feel heard without feeling judged and therefore I offer a warm, friendly, supportive and calm environment for us to work together on whatever is troubling you and I will be by your side throughout. We will work at your pace with the aim of you feeling safe enough for us to build a trusting relationship, giving you the confidence to be able to speak openly without fear, shame or guilt.
As an integrative relational counsellor, I work flexibly and collaboratively drawing from different therapeutic approaches, which enables me to tailor the therapy taking into consideration your individual needs and unique experiences.
What to do now
If you would like to ask any questions or book an initial session, you can contact me via email. If you would then like to go ahead with meeting, the initial 50 minute session will give you the opportunity to experience a session, get a sense of how we could work together and see how it feels for you without having any pressure to book further sessions. We can talk about what has brought you to counselling at this point in your life and look at what you would like to get from counselling. If we then decide that we will work together, we would meet for a 50 minute session, usually weekly, although we can discuss what would work best for you.
In addition to my private practice, I have volunteered as a counsellor for carers who are caring for partners and family members with life-limiting illnesses, addictions and mental health conditions. I have also volunteered as a bereavement counsellor for children, young people and adults and worked with parents and communities in children's bereavement.
