Margaret Dobie

Hello and welcome to my profile.

Research shows that the most significant aspect of effective therapy is the quality of the relationship. So, first and foremost, it's essential that you feel comfortable with the person you choose to work with.

I am a qualified, experienced and competent Counsellor, Therapist and Clinical Supervisor. I will provide a safe, respectful, non-judgemental space for you. Together we will explore at your own pace, with warm and open curiosity, the concerns that matter most to you. The process of sharing your own story (from your own perspective) in the therapeutic witness of another life traveller can be both stirring and life-affirming. Engaging with therapy requires consciously taking a brave step into a journey of self-discovery of exploring and meeting yourself.

I work with people aged 13 years and upwards. I provide one-to-one individual therapy, family counselling, individual clinical supervision and group supervision. If you are interested in working with me, or want to find out more, do get in touch. 

I use an integrative approach that’s tailored to each individual client, as each person is uniquely themselves. Together we can look at adaptive behaviours and beliefs that once worked for you, and that may now be creating difficulty, frustration or limitations. Using a selection of different approaches, we can work with frameworks such as family systems and genograms, creative materials, personal narratives, imaginative processes, connections to the natural world, developmental stages, attachment styles and future hopes.

The therapeutic journey can invite encounters with personal ‘aha’ moments, unearthing and affirming your own innate understandings and solutions. Finding your own meaning can help grow greater self-awareness which, in turn, provides access to more conscious everyday choices. Engaging with the therapeutic process can provide an expansive step toward inhabiting a richer life experience.

My work is informed using theoretical principles and underpinnings of Psychodynamic and Systemic Training. I am committed to continuous ongoing professional development and keeping abreast of newly emerging theory and research, which I then weave to enhance my work. I make use of learnings from my own experience of therapy, somatic practices and further study of a broad range of therapeutic approaches, with a keen appreciation of Jungian Depth Psychology. My work is monitored and enriched with regular ongoing Clinical Supervision and periodic Safeguarding training.

I have a deep interest in the self – as the inner spark of life. Of discovering what it means to be living from a place of both our own original selves while also being essentially connected to and in relationship with all other life forms that shape us and the world around us.

I provide a free 20 minute Introductory Meeting for new enquiries. This gives an opportunity for clients to share a brief outline of what has brought them to seek counselling at this time, and to explain how I work. 

Once a decision to proceed with therapy is reached, we complete a working agreement and then the first session includes an essential assessment.  

I offer both in person and online sessions.

“When supervision provides a space in which stories and problems are seen as a gateway to a new dimension of reality, rather than merely as issues which need solving, for me at that moment it becomes ‘passionate supervision’.” (Encke, Jochen. 2008. Breaking the Box: Supervision – A Challenge to Free Ourselves. In Shohet, Robin (ed.), Passionate Supervision, p20. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers)

I am drawn to this quote because it signals the potential for transformation which sits, along with clients, at the heart of the supervisory relationship. I aspire to cultivate a relational space based on a high level of mutual trust and confidence where challenging concerns and fearful issues can be bravely explored. I believe that supervision offers a vessel for shared development, new understandings and deepening of presence that both the supervisee and the supervisor can benefit from, whilst holding the client central to the work. The supervision I provide is nurtured in practice by my own supervision.

I hold a COSCA Counselling Supervision Certificate. My therapeutic training is embedded in Psychodynamic and Systemic principles, with integration of a range of other therapeutic approaches that are honed through ongoing continuous professional development, personal therapy and somatic practices. These all inform and are woven into my work.

I have five years’ experience as Clinical Manager in Counselling services, and bring a clear understanding in working with safeguarding and managing risk. I provide Clinical Supervision for Trainee and Qualified Counsellors and Therapists who work with Adults and Young People (aged 13+), using a variety of different Counselling modalities. I have experience in delivering training in Counselling Skills Approach to Working with Children and Young People to different cohorts of educators. I have extensive experience in working with Counsellors and Therapists who operate within organisational settings and systems, including school and family systems.

I provide in person and online one-to-one individual supervision and group supervision (up to 4 spaces).

Individual supervision (in person or online) - £60 per hour

Group supervision (in person or online) - £30 per person (2hrs for a group of 4 people)

I provide a free 20-30 minute Introductory Meeting, either in person or online, where together we can explore how we might best collaboratively work together.