Caroline James

I work from Tuesday - Thursday from my office in central Winchester.

In my private practice, I work with adults and young people from sixth form upwards and hold BACP Accreditation status for working with both adults and young people.   (If you’d like to know what “Accreditation” means, please see below). 

As well as working with adults, my counselling experience includes many years working with young people (Year 9 upwards) in secondary school and sixth form college settings.  My background also includes teaching modern languages at secondary school level (Year 7 to 13).

My core training is in Gestalt Psychotherapy and I hold a Post Graduate Diploma from the Gestalt Centre, London. I have trained with Jon Blend incorporating the Violet Oaklander Gestalt approach to working with children and adolescents.

My intention is to be a compassionate and steady presence as I accompany you on your journey to greater wellbeing.  Whether you have something specific you would like to work through or maybe a general sense of dissatisfaction in some area of your life, please get in touch and I will get back to you. 

I am happy to work both short and long term on a weekly basis. The length of therapy depends on your need.  I work in person and am happy to work remotely with established or returning clients. 

I work from my own dedicated practice room in central Winchester. This is located in a multi-functional office building with discrete access from street level.

As a BACP Accredited therapist, I have taken part in a rigorous post-qualification assessment process through BACP, successfully demonstrating that my work meets high standards in training, experience, ethical practice and ongoing professional development. 

In addition to my initial Gestalt training, I hold a Certificate from the Institute of Embodied Psychotherapy.  Being an embodied practitioner means I consider not only how we experience ourselves through the workings of our minds but also through the workings of our hearts and bodies.  Alongside talking and being heard, which is of course important, we may explore experience through movement, the senses, physical sensations, posture, breath.  Our bodies hold valuable information and an embodied exploration can enhance our understanding of the issues that bring us to therapy.  By attending to our embodied experience, we may discover resources that have lain hidden for some time.

My work is underpinned by my training and daily practice in mindfulness and mindful self-compassion.  I am a member of the Mindfulness Project’s community “In Good Company”. I believe there is always a well-intentioned reason behind how we show up in the world and this is worthy of our kindly interest and respect. By building a compassionate awareness of how we are, we become better able to identify where change, if needed, may come.  

Often we can get bogged down in thinking as we try to work our way out of difficulty.  Developing mindfulness skills can help us unhook from less helpful patterns of thought and behaviour and open our awareness to other ways of being.  

To make sure we work safely and at a pace comfortable to you, I use my extensive training in polyvagal theory (with Deb Dana) and somatic trauma therapy (with Babette Rothschild). This gives us an understanding of how our nervous systems work and how we sometimes can feel scattered and confused by our experience. As we work together, you will gain knowledge of your nervous system and develop skills for restoring balance and regulation.

I see the introductory session as an opportunity to get a feel for working together, and explore a little of what leads you to therapy. In this session, you can ask any questions you may have about therapy and working together.

Finding the right therapist is very important, and I encourage people to take 24 hours to reflect on the session before letting me know if they would like to go on to work together. There is no obligation to go on to work together after the initial session.

The initial session also gives me the opportunity to see whether I can be of help to you. I may occasionally feel somebody would be better served by working with a different therapist - for example, one with expertise in a specific area.  If this is the case, I will do my best to signpost alternative support.

If we decide to go on to work together, we commit to a day and time to meet weekly for the duration of your therapy.

I charge £65 for the initial session which is payable via BACS transfer within 24 hours of the session.

All subsequent therapy sessions - in person and remote - are charged at £65 per session.