Sharmaline Attygalle

Please do email me to enquire about my current availability. I hope to secure you a booking soon.

I understand that taking this first step may be intimidating and that is normal. I offer a free 20-minute phone consultation so you can be gently introduced to the therapy and to me.

There is no commitment at this point however if you wish to continue the next step is an initial assessment where we can look at what has brought you to therapy and what your goals are. We will also get a clear idea of whether we would like to continue working together.

My working hours are:

Mondays - Fridays 10:00 - 20:00

Saturdays 10:00:00 - 13:00

The therapeutic hour is 50 minutes.

Sessions are held on the same day and same time on a weekly basis.

There are regular reviews to assess the progress and make any adjustments and updates to your goals.

Parents are welcome to the reviews with the client's consent.

I am an Eating Disorders Therapist with an in-depth experience in working with Young People and Adults who have disordered eating or a diagnosis of an eating disorder.

The work is rooted as a talking therapy set in a safe and confidential therapeutic space. The therapeutic relationship between the client and therapist is crucial. It is based on being open, non-judgemental and creating an empathic understanding. We will work together to explore the underlying issues that have contributed to the eating disorder and what factors are maintaining it.

The evolving therapeutic process aims to empower you to feel ready to change the ED mindset and behaviours and regulate the emotions, learn healthy coping methods and finally setting yourself free from the ED.

The approach I use for the eating disorder therapy is CBT-E.  I was trained as a Humanistic counsellor and integrate the CBT with person-centred, gestalt, existential and psychodynamic modalities.

I am an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and abide by their ethical framework and code of conduct.

I work as an Integrative Therapeutic Counsellor and I have been running my own private practice called Your Haven Counselling for over 10 years. I have specialised and gained extensive training and expertise in eating disorder therapy and its co-existing conditions such as poor self-esteem, anxiety, depression, perfectionism, obsessive compulsive behaviour to name a few.

Please do have a look at my website www.yourhaven-counselling.co.uk

I offer therapy sessions:

- for Adults, Young People and Children (12 years and over)

- individual sessions

- online sessions

- sessions of a therapeutic hour of 50 minutes

- sessions on a weekly basis

- on the same day and at the same time

- a free 20-minute phone consultation

- an initial assessment to verify your goals and ensure we are willing to continue with therapy

- an explicit contract setting out the framework and boundaries of our therapeutic work together

- open-ended or time-limited therapy

- regular reviews

- safe ending of the therapy

Eating disorders therapy starts with completing a questionnaire and keeping a food diary to assess your relationship with food.

We will consider your predisposing factors, identify the precipitating point and explore your perpetuating factors that maintain the ED. This involves exploring the many drivers such as your relationship with food, the faulty thinking, rigid rules and habits, your relationships, self-esteem, perfectionism and the emotional regulation of the anxiety, depression and the feelings of guilt and shame.

Therapy is guided by a parallel track approach; the nutritional rehabilitation track and the cognitive-emotional track.

I provide psycho-education throughout to support your change. Therapy may involve maintaining food diaries and completing homework tasks. Work is also done on relapse prevention and maintaining recovery.

Please feel free to contact me to discuss any questions you may have about counselling and to check my availability.

I understand that it may be quite daunting to start counselling and I am glad that you are taking this first step.

I will offer you a safe and warm therapeutic space to gently settle down and feel comfortable.

The initial session will allow us to meet and get a sense of whether we would be happy to work together. This will also give us the opportunity to discuss what brought you to counselling, what your goals are and how I can support you in these.

The aim is to gradually start establishing a professional and therapeutic relationship for the therapy.

You will receive a questionnaire to fill up before the initial session. We will introduce the information from the questionnaire to the sessions identifying and acknowledging the possible work needed.

The therapy for disordered eating and the many eating disorders involves work on the willingness to engage in the therapy and the motivation to change. Therapy does not promise to be easy and there are many ups and downs. We will look at what is keeping you stuck, the maintaining factors at play and address the ambivalence and resistance that may undeniably exist.  

Please do email me to enquire about my current availability. I will secure you a booking soon.

 I offer a free 20-minute phone consultation in order to gently introduce you to the therapy and to me.

If you wish to continue the next step is an initial assessment where we can look at what has brought you to therapy and what your goals for therapy are. This will give us a clearer idea of whether therapy is for you and we would like to continue working together.

My working hours are:

Mondays - Fridays     09:00 - 20:00

The therapeutic hour is 50 minutes.

Therapy is online using video-linked Zoom sessions.

Wherever possible sessions are held on the same day and the same time on a weekly basis.

There are regular reviews to assess the progress and make any adjustments and updates to your goals.

I am an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and abide by their ethical framework and code of conduct.  

I work as an Integrative Therapeutic Counsellor and I have been running my own private practice called Your Haven Counselling for 11 years.  

Counselling is a talking therapy where I offer you a warm therapeutic space to gently settle down and feel comfortable.

The aim is to gradually establish a professional and therapeutic relationship between us for the therapy to evolve. The sessions will be your space and time to be authentically present to explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

My experience covers a wide range of concerns such as Anxiety, Depression, Phobias, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, Stress, Perfectionism, pre and post Bereavement, Grief and Loss, Bullying and Discrimination, Loneliness, Relationships, Self-Esteem and Confidence, Identity, Eating Disorders, Complex Trauma, Abuse, Anger, Self-Harm and Suicide.

I have specialised and gained extensive training and expertise in eating disorders and disordered eating namely Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge-Eating Disorders (BED). This work has lead to working with Neurodivergent clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Please do have a look at my website www.yourhaven-counselling.co.uk

I offer therapy sessions for Adults, Young People and Children (12 years and over)

In order to connect I offer a free initial 20-minute phone consultation

This is followed by an initial assessment to verify your goals and ensure we are happy to continue with the therapy.

The therapy is bound by an explicit contract setting out the framework and boundaries of our therapeutic work together

The sessions are:

- individual sessions

 - online 

- a therapeutic hour of 50 minutes

- on a weekly basis

- on the same day and at the same time

The therapy is:

- open-ended or time-limited 

- has regular reviews

- works towards a safe ending 

I am glad you are taking this very important step to enquiring and possibly starting counselling. 

As we meet for the first time this session will be about getting to know a little about each other, to feel comfortable and safe, to be present and gently open up about what you need support with.

I will receive you with warmth, without judgement and you will be listened to and heard with empathy. Together we will try and understand what has brought you to counselling, and what changes you may like to see in your life. I will facilitate your exploration. We will discuss how I can support you and set some goals for our collaborative work together.

The therapy involves work on the willingness to engage in the therapy and the motivation to change.  

Therapy My present with many ups and downs and does not promise to be easy. We will look at what is keeping you stuck, the many maintaining factors at play and address the existence of any ambivalence and resistance.  

Please feel free to contact me to discuss any questions you may have about counselling and to check my availability.