Claire Burston

Opening hours 

Monday 9am to 8pm

Tuesday 9am to 8pm

Wednesday 9am to 5pm

Thursday 9am to 8pm

Friday 9am to 5pm

I work part-time at a secondary school and have availability for short term work during school holidays.

I am an experienced and BACP accredited Humanistic Existential Counsellor. 

I follow a person- centered approach and the main premise is that clients know themselves better than anyone else and I provide the tools and guidance for them to be able to explore this.

Humanistic psychology is about striving for self-acceptance, greater understanding of personal values, beliefs and personal meaning of life.

As for Existential psychology, this explores our freedom of choice and the responsibilities that go along with it.

I also graduated at Sunderland University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. If clients are struggling to talk about certain things, if they choose to, I may use other creative tools such as drawing, painting and sand tray. My approach to counselling is to allow a client to express themselves in whatever way they choose, whether it be through words or creatively.

Making the decision to attend counselling is a positive step as it can offer support beyond that available from family or friends. Counselling offers an environment in which you can express your feelings and gain deeper insight into your difficulties. The sessions are also confidential, so you can talk about things you might not feel comfortable discussing with anyone else.

When accessing counselling it may feel difficult as it can be a daunting experience due to possible fear around how we may be judged. You may feel some sort of pressure or expectation to open up about all sorts of things to someone who is essentially a stranger. Feeling a bit anxious about it is totally understandable, however, what to remember is that the counselling I offer is a person centered approach. This means that the counselling is led by you and not directed by the counsellor.

Most importantly you do need to feel comfortable with your counsellor. Therefore, the first session will be about us getting to know each other and to see if we can work together. There is absolutely no obligation to continue the sessions and it is crucial you feel comfortable with your chosen counsellor before continuing with regular sessions.

During this first session an agreement will be discussed about the boundaries, confidentiality, session length, fees and GDRP Data Protection (privacy document can be found on my website). I will ask if you can explain to me what brings you to counselling. If all goes well then the next step would be to arrange a suitable day and time that suits us both to meet weekly. Each session will last 1 hour. The counselling will take place at a discreet residential address (with parking) in a comfortable garden room.