Christopher Stafford

**Updated 13/3/2024**

Getting started with me: Initial Telephone Consultation Call:

25 Minute Initial Telephone or Video Call Consultation Appointment. Fee: £25.00

This appointment is not a therapeutic appointment but an opportunity for us to explore the reasons you have reached out for therapy in greater detail, for you to ask any questions  and for me to find out a little more about you and the resolve you would like to find through accessing therapy with me.

This is an opportunity (based on what you bring to the appointment) for me to describe how I can best support you on your therapeutic journey with me. At the end of the call you can decide to book  therapy sessions with me or you can think about this and get back to me when you are ready - there is no obligation to begin therapy with me following a consultation call.

Face to Face therapy available at my practice in:

Liverpool City Centre 

Fees:

Individual Counselling/Psychotherapy: 

£60.00 to £70.00  per 60-minute session

Couples Counselling/Psychotherapy:

£85.00 to £95.00 per 60-minute session 

Counsellors / Psychotherapists in training may be eligible for concessionary rates which may be available throughout the year. 

Other concessions will be considered on a case by case basis when possible.

I offer one pro bono session at any given time and operate a waitlist for these sessions.

Please contact me directly to enquire about any of the above.

Chris Stafford Counselling and Psychotherapy

(MBACP) BSc (First Class Hons) PG DIP 

Individual Adult, Young Person and Couples Therapist

It can be overwhelming to not be living a life that feels truly yours, emotionally resulting in anxiety and depression. This can result in a constant cycle of thoughts that can hurt you, lead you to feeling empty, lost, alone and preferring to feel differently in your life. Being in such a painful place, I understand that it can be confusing, conflicting and leave us feeling that we are just existing in our lives.

Exploring how we truly feel and think about our experiences can provide us with great insight towards ourselves, our behaviours, and our responses to the unpredictable nature of life and our relationship with ourselves, others, and things.

As an integrative counsellor, I provide a safe therapeutic space, which is client led, always working at your pace to support you to explore your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with me in a way that you are comfortable with. My therapy services are provided with empathy, respect, and acceptance towards you.

My aim is always to get as close as I can to my client's world to understand and feel how it truly feels to be them so that we can find a way to move forward in the direction that my client chooses.

Value towards you is firmly embedded in my counselling practice, enabling me to really hear and be present with you and the uniqueness of the experience you bring. I offer to accompany you on a very personal, and often difficult journey, with the knowledge, ability, and professionalism to that enables me to hold a safe therapeutic space for you to explore safely without the fear of judgement or rejection.

Whatever is troubling you, holding you back or reducing the amount of joy you feel in your day-to-day life - I am ready to hear what is creating that sadness or emptiness and preventing you from experiencing a more peaceful life.

Counselling sessions are always tailored and persoanlised.

The human experience can be painful at times and can result in a loss of hope. I truly believe that having a space that is fully focused on you can allow you to fully understand your own feelings and thoughts in relation to your life, relationships, emotional struggles or even addictions with more clarity. This can help us to truly understand what is happening for us.

No matter which platform you choose for us to meet for your counselling journey, my commitment to you is to provide a counselling environment which is centred around you. This is your time with me to explore what is important to you, what has been troubling you and for you to express how it feels to be you. I will be ready to hear your true feelings, thoughts, and experiences that you have chosen to bring along to our sessions, for you to choose a way forward to live the life you truly want and find a way to reach how you would prefer to feel in relation to your life and relationships.

I understand how daunting it can be to consider counselling, therefore I offer a short no fee telephone introduction call to answer any questions and for you decide if I am the counsellor for you.

I am an open, accepting, and friendly guy first and foremost. I am highly motivated towards my work and clients.

In my counselling practice, I am a fully inclusive therapist who is an advocate for championing equality, inclusion, and respect for all.

It is important to add that all my qualifications are Counselling/Psychotherapy related.

I am a fully insured therapist who is also registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) to ensure I am fully compliant with storage of any data within my work. I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP). I have advanced my core counselling training and qualification to BSc (Hons) standard to ensure I am able to offer varied therapeutic interventions, so you receive the optimum experience from your therapy.

**Getting started with me as your Counsellor**

Firstly, just drop me a call or an email to arrange an initial telephone consultation to discuss your therapy needs in more detail.

This appointment lasts 25 minutes and the fee is £25.00.

After this if you decide to choose to work with me, we can arrange our first counselling session at a suitable time for us both and at your selected location.

I will then send over via email confirmation of your first appointment with me, with full details regarding location, parking, public transport links and arrival information.

I will also attach our counselling contract to this email which will provide you with further information of how counselling with me will work. It will outline confidentiality in counselling, how I will store your data, my fees, how to make payment and my cancellation policy. I will ask you to read the counselling contract, complete all client sections and sign electronically and return to me before our first session. If this is not possible and you are choosing to have face to face counselling with me then we can sign a paper copy together at our first session. If you have any questions regarding any of the above, then you will of course be invited to discuss this with me.

At your first session we will initially review the counselling contract to ensure all your questions are answered. Once I have obtained your informed consent to proceed, we will then begin our therapeutic journey together which will begin with our first session being an exploratory session identifying how your life has been and is for you and the issues you would like to focus on in therapy with me.

This is your counselling. We will review our sessions regularly. You are free to end your counselling journey whenever it feels right for you.

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

In the meantime, look after "you"