Matthew Byng

Coronavirus is here, causing deaths and illness as it creates chaos and devastation.  The government response restricting our movements may be reducing our risk of catching it but is creating more anxiety, stress and hardship.  We can see what to expect when we look at news reports showing the suffering in Italy, Spain and France.  It is impacting us all.  

We are in crisis and this may be impacting your emotions, thoughts and body because we are facing the possibility of our own suffering and deaths and also of those we love.  You may be getting angry, irritable with your partner, dwelling on old memories that you thought no longer disturbed you. Difficulties that you thought were under control could be upsetting you far more than you feel they should. Your sleep maybe disrupted; you may have difficulty concentrating and feel that you are drowning in anxieties and fears.  

These responses derive from your past and are making your present, which is difficult enough, more challenging. In Counselling and EMDR I offer a therapeutic relationship in which, perhaps for the first time, you will feel sufficiently safe to explore your history, change old beliefs and relax some of the rules for living that you inherited. These may have restricted your capacity to live fully and in the way that is right for you.

We can use EMDR, a powerful trauma therapy to reduce the pain from old memories, helping them fade and reducing their power over you.

I also specialise in working with clients trying to make sense of early boarding school experiences, and those in the early stages of recovery from addiction. 

For ten years until Summer 2019, I was a lecturer at SGS Stroud College, teaching the Level 4 Diploma in Counselling.

I am a registered and Accredited Member of BACP and an EMDR Accredited Practitioner with EMDR UK & Ireland.  

I offer my sessions by phone or on secure video link using Zoom from my private and confidential room in Rodborough.  My sessions last for 50 minutes but I have the flexibility to extend the session if we lose time because of technical difficulties.   

I see private clients on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.  

For us to work together, you need a quiet room which the members of your household know not to disturb for the length of our sessions.

I accept payment by BACS or PayPal.

Our work begins from our first session when we begin our relationship.  I will listen carefully to what you tell me, both to what you say, what you don't say and to what it all means to you.  I will explain what I can offer you, the way I work and my commitment to you.  I will describe my contract and invite any comments that you may have.  There will be time for us to discuss if this is what you want and if it is, to decide on our next session.  

With Coronavirus the public is suddenly very much private.  What our clients are bringing is colliding with our own experiences and together they threaten to overwhelm, disempower or at least threaten our boundaries.  Supervision is more important than ever.

Seeing clients as a professional counsellor or psychotherapist is exciting, rewarding, challenging and at times stressful and upsetting. I see supervision as central to managing all aspects of your professional life.

I am interested in all that you do with your clients, from the application of the ethical framework, impact of the ‘mistakes’ that you might think you make, your process, successes and achievements and the development of your professional career.

I am a person-centred counsellor, and supervisor which means my main purpose is to help you symbolise your client into your awareness as accurately as possible. None of us is fully functioning because we all have blocks and areas of incongruence but working together in supervision, we will achieve a much better understanding of your clients than you can do on your own. As your supervisor, I want us to collaborate so that you feel fully supported in the vital work that you do with your clients.

With the client at the centre of what we do and with you as the tool for effective therapy everything that affects you is welcome in supervision with me. This includes material at the global level such as Coronavirus and the climate crisis, through our relationship, events in your life and your unique process, to the nuts and bolts of managing your client contracts.

I am familiar with working in private practice and in organisational settings. They present different challenges and benefits which we can explore together.

My session timings are flexible enough for you to meet the monthly supervision standards of our different professional bodies.

I offer supervision on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays by telephone and secure video call on Zoom.  I have the flexibility to offer you extra time if there are technical mishaps.  I will be in my private and confidential room in Rodborough.  You will also need privacy and quiet in a room from which your household have been asked to avoid entering.

This is when the work begins.  I would like to hear about your practice, training, hisory and expectations.  I will explain how I work and what I can offer you, my approach to the Ethical Framework,  my responsibility to you and your clients.  Finally we can talk about how our working relationship might look and if we feel it would be strong enough to offer you the support you need.