Daniel Seamark

I aim to offer counselling across several platforms, including face to face at my office in the Fulford area of York, online via video calling, telephone counselling and email, whatever feels most appropriate for you and your needs.

I'm currently subcontracted to a company within the NHS, as a result my private therapy hours are currently limited, but looking to increasing these as I step away from my employment.

I am currently available on Monday and Friday between 10am -5pm.

Hi, I'm Dan, and I'm hoping I can offer you something valuable. I offer Humanistic Integrative therapy. This is a model of therapy that aims to look at the big picture of your life and how everything fits together and interacts, what works and what could be different, with a focus on helping people understand and support themselves. My aim is to look at you as a whole person, and not as a diagnosis or an issue/experience. I draw on a number of therapeutic interventions under Humanistic Therapy with the aim of creating a bespoke service for you.

Some people use therapy for a tune up, some feel the work is deeper and more long term. Some know exactly what they need, others don't have a clue where to start. I aim to offer a service that is respectful of who and where you are in life, and flexible to your specific needs. As we progress it is my hope that you will feel more confident, encouraged and empowered to tell me what you need your therapy/therapist to be, I view what I offer not as something to be done to you, but something that is a collaboration, and ongoing negotiation is a valuable part.

What my version of Humanistic Therapy looks like in practice, is people come to me often feeling stuck, overwhelmed, lost or out of touch with who they feel they are, their values or goals. My role is to offer you somewhere outside of the rest of your life, independent, to explore together with someone who you feel comfortable sharing your personal thoughts and feelings with, in confidence, so that you don't have to filter yourself or meet others' expectations, or worry where information will go. I will take you as you are, so we can figure out how to get you to where you want to be.

My philosophy is to help you help yourself, the 'feed a person a fish and you feed them for a day, teach them to fish and feed them for a lifetime' method. I find I use a lot of metaphor and analogy in my work, I'm a big believer in taking the complexities of life and translating them into simpler, manageable ideas. For example, I've often seen my work as helping a client have a mental spring clean. Many of us have that draw/cupboard we've packed things away into for years, some things useful, some not, some forgotten etc. Our minds can often be like that cupboard, and my role is to offer you a space where you can pull it all out and see what has value, what may need to go, what can be stored differently and what else we may need to put in. I do this by being a student and the topic I'm studying is you. By teaching me what it's like to be you I find people learn a lot about themselves in the process, and the answers you're looking for often come from this.

Feedback I've had from people who are happy with my work is that I have a 'down to earth' attitude to therapy, a casual but professional way of being where people feel safe to bring all that they are, even the parts you fear or don't like. From feedback I've learned what I value in my work is the opportunity to offer people a place to be human with one and other, warts and all, and for that to be OK.

Counselling is different to most professions in that you are also investing emotionally, how we feel working with each other matters. If you feel comfortable with me and that I'm the right person to support you, we can book in for a full session, which often serves as an opportunity for us both to lay out where we're coming from and where we would like to go with the therapy, and I would always aim to check in with you as we go to clarify we're working towards your goals.