Sid Kennedy

I offer both face-to-face sessions and online sessions on Zoom.

I also offer weekly, fortnightly, monthly or ad hoc sessions.

We all need people or someone in our lives, who we feel both fully hear and fully understand us. Only then are we not alone in our struggles and can develop and grow in ways that are truly meaningful for us. I have been fortunate and humbled to have seen many clients face their challenges and take great steps to reach their potential over the years.

I believe that no-one’s issue or problem or concern is ever too small – if it’s important to you, then it is clearly important to me. I will help create a trusting, therapeutic environment so you may be able to give focus to whatever it is that brings you to therapy, and to whatever might emerge during your therapy. 

Some of our work together may involve exploring your life experiences, some may involve me sharing strategies, techniques and appropriate advice to help you cope with what is going on for you, and some may involve working towards relevant goals or actions to help bring about positive changes for you.

I have over 20 years’ experience in counselling - working in private practice and in educational settings. I also managed a university Wellbeing & Disability Service for a number of years - which supported 2,000 staff and 30,000 students. Prior to counselling, I taught English for twenty years in a college of Further Education. I have also published a semi-autobiography novel.

My person-centred approach to working will ensure that you have the opportunity to bring whatever you wish to my sessions and that you will be heard in a way that you may not have experienced before. I will respect your willingness to tell your 'story' at whatever pace is right for you. Similarly, I will respect your desire  not to disclose, as I deem it important for you to have as much control over your therapy (and your feelings) as is possible.

I believe that a healthy therapeutic relationship is crucial for your personal growth to take place and I will work diligently and sensitively with you to help bring this about. However, I appreciate that although entering therapy, in itself, can be anxiety-provoking, there may be times that I will challenge you with my responses to understand you better, and to maintain professional and personal boundaries - but I will do this whilst maintaining trust, respect and humaneness. 

I pride my practice on being as open and as honest with you as is possible, in the hope that you can do the same. Finally, if there is an intervention or item of knowledge or action that I feel is appropriate and useful to share with you, which would help bring about your personal growth, maintain your safety or enhance your welfare, I will do so.

This will give you the opportunity to ask me any questions about therapy, about how we will work together, to share with me what your expectations of therapy might be and to give me an idea of what you might wish to get out of therapy. 

We will also discuss the counselling contract (which is part of the requirements of this kind of work). This will include talking about confidentiality and the reasons why, and how,  this may be breached. 

We will briefly cover any previous experiences you have had of therapy and if you are taking medication at the present time.

If we are working online, we will briefly talk about having a secure and safe place from where you will meet with me, as well as acknowledging the technical difficulties that may arise whilst being online. We will agree on a plan of action should these difficulties arise. 

At the end of the session we will discuss if therapy/online therapy is right for you at this moment in time and whether or not to rebook for a further session(s).