Victoria Das-Gupta

At present I am able to offer new client face to face session or via zoom

Looking for a counsellor who can solve all your problems and guarantee a hassle-free future, and the freedom to eat mainly cake and not get fat, well, sadly, you have come to the wrong place!

However, if you are looking for a therapist with a quirky sense of humour and an optimistic perspective then look no further. I am a person-centred counsellor, a vocation which I found while trying to ‘find’ myself. Basically, I became a counsellor in the first place because something was messing with my inner calm and I also thought that I would make an interesting case study!

I qualified in 2015 as a person-centred counsellor and I am an accredited registered member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP). You will find more information about person-centred counselling along with their ethical framework at https://www.bacp.co.uk

I love the work I do. Between 2015 until 2019 I have worked exclusively with clients for a local charity, gaining much experience, which I would be happy to discuss privately. In 2019 I began offering my counselling services to the general population, as well. 

In person centred counselling, therapeutic change occurs organically through understanding and accepting oneself as a human, in being both unique and special, whilst, also, at the same time, being just like everyone else. The therapeutic relationship acts like a catalyst for this process of realisation, that can happen spontaneously but slowly over time, this is accelerated by counselling. This makes person centred counselling an appropriate therapeutic choice for most clients.

Initially, all I am offering is a warm, safe, private and confidential space, free from judgement, where we will explore your experiences and your understanding of them. Then, I will challenge you, frequently, by asking things like, ‘and how did that make you feel’. I do this because failing to listen to how we feel creates emotional tension. We are commonly taught not to listen to our ‘gut instinct’, this is just one example of a simple fundamental shift we can work on together to create long lasting therapeutic change. 

Before the first session, I always arrange a phone conversation with potential new client. This is to discuss what you are looking for and for me to explain what is on offer, and then, should you wish to proceed, we would book an initial appointment. 

In the initial session we will discuss the process of counselling and consider the roles of the client and counsellor. We will look at the counselling contract and agree the ground rules of how we will work together.

It is likely I will ask you the following questions

1. What brought you to counselling at this time?

2. What is the aim of these sessions?

3. What would you like to be different at the end of these sessions?

Please note, you may not be able to answer these questions but we will keep coming back to them during the counselling process. 

Towards the end of the first session I will probably suggest that talking about yourself for an hour is a novel thing to do and that if you feel unexpectedly emotional in the next few days please remember that you have just started counselling!