Maurice Mason

My practice work times are flexible, negotiable.  Sessions are 50 minutes.  There can be wait times, currently there is some availability depending on mode of delivery (e.g. Face2Face, Zoom, Facetime and WhatsApp.) and preferred times . 

If I'm unavailable you can leave a message, I will then return your call as quickly as possible

I believe that people have the right to find their own answers and the counselling process can offer the time and space to do this. I am persuaded that this therapeutic process comes not only from my long counselling practice but critically from my own experience of being a vulnerable client and an increasing tolerance of my own uncertainty and a willingness to stay with unknowable feelings.

You may be distressed and feel disturbed by issues which have and are seriously intruding into your life and which you wish to change. Often you come to therapy in the belief that the counsellor will provide them with answers or offer a solution to their problems.

Working essentially with the psychodynamic model and using transference and counter transference skills, I work with the relational dynamic in each session. I listen attentively to the feelings of my client and my own and in the parallel process ponder on what it is like for me to be with them. I am able to reflect back, use open ended questions and encourage my clients to explore the issues they bring and those that surface in the session.

Therapeutic skills I've developed and honed over 30 years.   These skills combined with previous research, business, consultancy and international agency experience/work in the UK, Europe, North America, Caribbean and Africa provide me with a valuable insight and extensive cultural oversight

I'm working/have worked with individuals, couples, families and children from 4 years upwards.  Have trained with and am an approved therapist with Barnardos which includes, adoption and working with parents, children, families and refugees.  I also work with a number of Employment Assistance Programme (EAPs) providers.

Principal model of working is integrative, encompassing Psycho-dynamic, person centred, TA, CBT, tailored to the needs of my clients/patients which would evolve over your therapeutic journey.  The method of working will depend on the presented issues (which may change over time and the process) and the timeline, length of working.   For example working with specific issues to engaging at a deeper level over an extended time frame. 

I believe that counselling should offer "containment". A client brings problematic issues which need to be "held". This holding happens when a client is heard and when the material they bring is respected, valued and acknowledged. I also believe that this process can only work if a "good enough" relationship evolves between the client and the counsellor; often understood as a therapeutic alliance. I think that it is the containment of the client and the holding of the boundaries that creates a "safe enough" environment for this relationship to grow.

Face to Face Counselling

The most common form of counselling, a personal one to one session held in my practice.

Telephone Counselling

A more manageable starting place; the details of this telephone arrangement can be discussed.

Online Counselling

Anonymous arrangement which allows trust to be developed over time. This is being extended to include SKYPE in the near future.

In advance of the assessment (1st) session I would ask you to complete a brief background, an Intake Form.  I would also forward information as to the way of I work in some detail.   This will save time, give me a sense of what brings you to therapy and enable our 1st session to be more productive.  There is no commitment to continue beyond the assessment session if you don't feel ready.

In the early sessions I work to provide this safe enough space. For many of my clients this is the first time they have been listened to and that their primeval feelings, often raw, have been heard and respected. Whilst this lack of a previous non judgemental and understanding process can be experienced as nurturing, for others it can be an overwhelming and scary experience.

When a new client arrives I will firstly check out what it is like for them to be here. Then I will let them know clearly the terms of the contract on offer and we make our agreement, with private clients I give them an information sheet they can take away with them. This contract sets out the therapeutic boundaries and the way I maintain and manage these boundaries is of the utmost importance.

From the first point of contact I try to be aware of the different ways in which my clients communicate and consequently the way I work. I feel it is essential I meet the client where they are and to engage in their own language, also to be aware that the agenda they bring may not only be apparent in the spoken word.