Laura Benham

Hello, my name is Laura and I am an experienced BACP registered counsellor working with both individuals and couples in my private practice which is situated at Fairford Leys Doctor's Surgery in Aylesbury.

You may be wondering if ‘just talking’ to another person really can resolve longstanding anxiety, stress and unhappiness. My experience is that it can. Developing personal insight and better understanding can change the way we think about ourselves, the way we experience life and the relationships we have with others.

My aim is to create a safe, calm, non-judgemental and respectful environment which will enable us to explore your problems, helping you to make sense of what is troubling you. People come to counselling for many different reasons and I believe that by talking to someone who will listen and respond to you as an individual, without discrimination or judgement, you can begin to feel less alone with your problems and work towards tackling the issues that are making you unhappy.

Aside from counselling, I have worked for many years in corporate business environments and therefore understand the pressures for those who work within them.

My training is in an Integrative model. This allows me to draw from a wealth of knowledge, training and experience from different therapeutic schools, and I can therefore tailor each session to your individual needs. I have clinical experience working for a Sexual violence/domestic abuse agency as well as National child loss charity, MIND and in schools as well as at Relate where I trained to work relationally with couples. 

I am a qualified Integrative Supervisor. I work with a range of experience from trainees on first placements to highly qualified and established therapists with demanding caseloads.​ I offer supervision both online and face to face. I encourage the colleagues who I supervise to think about their clinical work – there may be a particular relationship or clinical issue that you want to focus on, as well as focusing on your own self care and thinking about the impact of this work on you. I also make space for us, if you would like, to think about your private practice and professional development. My approach is to work collaboratively with the therapist, forming a relationship through being curious and gently challenging whilst empathetic and encouraging and humorous at times! My aim is to support you to develop your self-awareness and growth so that you can be even more effective as a therapist for your clients whilst maintaining your ethical practice. I currently supervise groups at a further education setting as well as individual therapists in my independent practice.

In my own clinical practice I work integratively combining elements of humanistic psychotherapy, psychodyamic, CBT and TA, and so these are the frameworks I would typically draw upon. I utilise Hawkin’s and Shohet’s seven eyed model of supervision and apply this to supervision. I trained in relational therapy with couples at Relate and draw further on attachment theory which is an important part of how I formulate and understand my work.

If you would like to discuss your supervision needs with me, please send me an email and we can arrange a time to talk.

Fees for supervision are £60 per hour or £80 for 90 minutes,