Nigel Spencer

Nigel Spencer -MBACP Dip Counsellor

I believe that having a place to be heard, understood and wholeheartedly accepted as you are is vital to untapping your enthusiasm, creativity and inner power to create a life for yourself that moves beyond being held back by trauma, life events and limitations from formative years. 

I have 30 years experience of working with trauma, relationships and bodily healing, bringing empathy, honesty and an authentic ability to get to the heart of the problem. Having developed my own resourcefulness and resilience over the years, my capacity to sit alongside clients living through difficult, challenging and painful times is healing and empowering for clients.

As a Humanistic Integrative Counsellor my approach is rooted in person centred values and a blend of person centred, gestalt and transactional analysis techniques. I am particularly drawn to Gestalt therapy and the emphasis on the importance of your body, feelings and the present moment. I am a LBGTQ+ affirmative therapist, and have awareness of how living in a heteronormative society can have an impact on self esteem causing shame, doubt, loneliness, anxiety and depression, leaving a legacy of feeling judged and misunderstood. 

I volunteer as a counsellor at Mindout in Brighton and have previously worked with the Sussex Cancer Centre Psychological Therapies team.

I offer a confidential, safe, empathic and non judgemental environment for clients to explore issues which are troubling them at their own pace. My aim is to give my clients an opportunity to increase awareness of what they do well, and how they get stuck.

I adhere to the BACP ethical framework and I am fully insured, and hold an enhanced DBS certificate. 

Counselling sessions are 50 minutes and take place in my private therapy room in Brighton, or remotely via zoom or telephone. 

I respect my clients as the best experts on themselves. My focus is always on individual experience, and I work phenomenologically. I believe that therapy sessions offer clients a breathing space where they are free to experiment with being themselves and with relating spontaneously, in the present moment. 

Having a fresh look at their situation allows clients to see more clearly their possibilities for developing creative solutions to their issues, providing motivation to change and grow.

The first step is for us to talk on the phone or have an online video consultation. This will give you the opportunity to discuss what needs you are wanting to address and the changes you are wanting to make. 

In response I will then give you an outline of how I work and what I can offer you specific to your needs, including an outline of practicalities. 

Finding the right therapist is important for the success of any therapy.

There is no obligation to continue after the initial meeting.