Andrew Norman

I meet with clients in my own counselling room in Sidmouth. It is comfortable, quiet, easy to find and parking is no problem. 

I also enjoy working with clients online with Zoom. That might make it much easier to fit counselling sessions into the time you have available and without having to travel – wherever you are in the UK. 

I have set times and days in the week when I am available, but within that I can be flexible to meet with you if you do not have a fixed schedule.

I am also able to offer counselling in the form of a quiet hour’s walk in the surrounding countryside.

My standard rate remains at £45 per session. But I want to make counselling as accessible as possible, so if necessary I can offer you a lower rate to fit your circumstances. 

I have a lifetime’s experience of supporting people; as a trained and qualified counsellor I aim to be warm and reliable, professional and competent. I particularly try to meet the needs of men; I enjoy working with all sorts of people; experienced with anxiety, loss and bereavement, anger, relationship issues and self-esteem. 

How I work with clients, my person-centred therapeutic method, is described on my website.

Client testimonial from E VR, February 2021: “Andrew was a skilled, intelligent and very kind counsellor to me at a low point in my life. I consider myself very fortunate as I often found him leading me skilfully and professionally to find my own solutions and answers to my concerns and questions usually much to my surprise. This ability to guide me and yet show me that I was not always correct and as clear in my thinking and perceptions as I thought I was, always with a gentle smile, means that I trust Andrew absolutely. I always felt safe with him, from the first appointment."

"Andrew has excellent time management skills and I never felt rushed. The last session with him was positive and affirming with many good memories. He guided me to feel empowered again and to value myself.”

My therapeutic method is Humanistic (centering in your personal experience and perspective), Person Centred (offering you empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive affirmation), Existential (recognising that anxieties and uncertainties - such as death, the fear of the unknown and the meaning of life - are a fundamental part of existence, but that we all have the capabilities and personal responsibility for making our own most positive choices), and in practice Integrative (drawing on the resources offered by e.g. Narrative Therapy, Act & Commitment Therapy and Internal Family Systems Therapy), so aiming to be thoroughly holistic. 

See my website for more details of my therapeutic method.

I remember feeling quite nervous when I went to my own first  session of counselling as a new client. So I was grateful that my therapist welcomed me warmly, explained things clearly, and put me at my ease. I now try to do the same myself.

Our first session will be to identify what has prompted you to consider counselling, to see what you want the therapy to help with - and the right place for you to start.

We can discuss together and agree key matters such as confidentiality. These will include all the practicalities which will ensure that our sessions remain a safe space for you in line with the BACP Ethical Framework and the law relating to the protection of your data.

If you then decide that you would like to continue working with me we would agree on a helpful schedule. 

Talking to someone who really listens well is so simple but can be so helpful. It's how we are as human beings. We need to see ourselves holistically and through some of the veils that come to be there for each of us.

I hope that today might be the time for you to take a further step in that process.