Melissa Sedmak

About you

There’s a weight on your shoulders and a churning in your stomach. You feel an overriding sense of unease. You are anxious about feeling anxious.

This shakiness is stopping you from enjoying life. It may even be stopping you from living.

You need something to change.

You want to calm down. To gain a sense of stability and perspective. To enable you to live a more fulfilled life. To take-on responsibilities that currently seem too much. To feel empowered.

My role is to help you get there. Which means confronting your low self-esteem. Understanding why you feel the way you do, whether it stems back to childhood or simply feeling that you have become invisible. I want to support you on that journey. And when, at some point, we say ‘goodbye’, it’ll be when we both trust in you feeling the freedom and control to be your authentic self.

If you are curious and actively committed to making this work then please get in touch at any time. Whether you want to explore the routes to getting you back to where you once were, or to feeling the confidence others describe but you have never experienced. My greatest sadness is also my greatest thrill: ending our sessions knowing that our work is done.

About Me

I grew up in a patriarchal society and have had to break-free from the pre-determined expectations around me. I have lived in different cultures. I have travelled widely. I have had to discover how to live my own life rather than someone else’s – and I believe that has been the most helpful thing to me as a therapist (particularly as I first qualified as an engineer!).

I’m based in the heart of Bedford and am happy to meet in person or online. I find that ‘walk and talk’ sessions are particularly inspiring and effective.

My practice is built on increasing awareness of your thoughts, feelings, behaviours, sensations and moods. Once we understand those better, we can create the freedom for you to live your life. You can stop avoiding places and people. Anxiety can cease to govern you, but only once we are able to open-up the choices open to you.

The key is to create an environment where we can speak openly and freely. The more you choose to disclose, the more I can help. I want you to feel that you can lean on me for support, trust me and, hopefully, like me too! Counselling needn’t be heavy and dull. I believe that a great session is inspiring, insightful and upbeat. I want you leaving feeling that we have had an enjoyable 50 minutes together.

Let’s start with a chat. Just 20 minutes to see how we get on. No expectations, no commitment and no charge. If that works, we can plan an assessment session where we discuss significant events in your life which have shaped you and are relevant to the reason you are seeking counselling. I will also consider your expectations and what you hope to achieve on the counselling journey. From that point it’s all about how committed you are to making this work and how quickly we can start to make a difference together.

What next?

If this sounds like it has potential, don’t hold back. Text me. WhatsApp me. Whatever suits you best. Let’s start the process because, in my experience, that’s the biggest hurdle for anyone. Once we have begun, everything becomes possible.