Andrew Buswell

I have been in practice as a qualified counsellor for 18 years. I communicate with clients in a clear and direct way in a spirit of honesty and kindness in order to increase awareness of your situation and also your potentials and possibilities.

I enjoy working with creativity and imagination, where appropriate.

I work with people as individuals, that is, meeting their individual need, either by being open and accepting or, alternatively, active and involved, as appropriate. I enjoy working in-depth therapeutically.

 I am currently offering sessions via telephone or online. I have had substantial previous experience of providing counselling and advice via the telephone in the voluntary and private sectors. In my practice, I have seen people for short-term work (6 to 10 sessions) and long-term (over ten years,in one case).

I have a degree in Law and History and I originally worked in the advice sector, including years as a national trainer in the field. I retrained as a Gestalt counsellor following several years of Buddhist Psychotherapy training. My experience working as a qualified counsellor includes employment within the NHS, for a GP surgery. I also used to work with clients with debilitating long term health problems within a District General Hospital Pain Clinic. I also provided counselling for the Meningitis Trust as a counsellor as part of my private practice).

Life is,amongst other things,  demanding and confusing and it is so easy to become entangled in unhealthy situations and relationships. We are thrown into life and then often blown and buffeted around as we make our way through it.

 Counselling offers the opportunity to press pause, take refuge and review who you currently are and what you want to do about your life.

The therapy I offer provides the opportunity for increasing self awareness, in the context of an accepting and supportive relationship. I aim to assist you to make informed, wise life choices. I want to be alongside you to support you with your unhappiness and suffering and also inspire you to accept all your potential and range of possible futures.

I am particularly interested in issues around low self-esteem; rejuvenating healthy relationships and leaving unhealthy relationships; supporting those living with long-term health conditions which involve coping with loss; and assisting others in their journey with spirituality and beliefs, by, for instance, evaluating inherited, dogmatic and/or oppressive systems to which they may belong. I am not a member of any organized religion.

I have professional and personal experience of coping with long-term health conditions and spirituality as well as with parenting, including step-families 

I realise that searching for a counsellor/therapist is often a bewildering,  involved and difficult process and also that it is my privilege to have contact with you.

 I very much want to put you at ease as much as possible and to take in everything that you want to say to me in an open and accepting way. I want you to be in control of the shape of the therapy that I provide, including such things as the number of sessions.

I am very open to feedback about my work and I respect your right to begin and end therapy when you want but I would highly recommend an appropriate ending/completion session: abrupt endings are often psychologically harmful.

If you contact me, we will have an initial telephone discussion for me to hear briefly what help you are wanting from any counselling that you have with me so that I can assess whether I may be able to help you

 If appropriate, we will then book in in our first session together where we can then both properly evaluate whether we can work together in a meaningful way. If so, we will discuss and clarify the general terms of your future therapy with me.

Thank you for reading my profile, please feel free to make contact with me to explore the possibility of working with me. I wish you well with your life.