Ellen Martin

Are you feeling overwhelmed with stress and anxiety? Maybe you're navigating relationship difficulties, loss or addictive behaviours. 

My name is Ellen, I am a trauma informed humanistic counsellor. I offer a safe and empathic space free from judgement where you can explore whatever is on your mind. We can take the time to figure out what's troubling you and work together to make sense of thoughts, feelings and behaviours so you can move forward in a way that feels right for you. 

I have been supporting adults and young people through complex life difficulties for over 15 years. I have experience supporting people with anxiety, abandonment, low mood, workplace stress and burnout, addiction, childhood abuse and neglect, domestic violence, grief and identity issues. 

As a counsellor I will support you to access inner resources, finding ways of living more fully and with more peace of mind.

I put you at the centre of our work, I’m unbiased and wont tell you what to do; we will explore whatever you want to and at your own pace. When exploring particularly upsetting experiences, I may use mindfulness techniques to provide grounding and a sense of safety.

I can offer psychoeducation on how trauma impacts our thoughts and feelings as well as provide tools for managing panic and anxiety. I can also give guidance on healing parts of the self that can hold us back or that manifest in unwanted behaviours.

I have been working as a counsellor since 2015 in the voluntary and charity sector, schools, private practice and EAP's. For the past six years I have been the Clinical lead at a Counselling organisation which has included supervising a team of counsellors.  This has given me a wealth of experience working with diverse populations on many different issues. 

Before training as a counsellor I worked in the voluntary sector supporting people struggling with substance misuse and I have been working with young people aged 14+ in schools and alternative provisions for the past 15 years.

More recently I have been incorporating somatic work into my practice, this can include breathwork and basic yoga techniques which can help in the reduction of trauma symptoms. This is something we could explore only if and when you felt it would be useful.

I have worked with lots of people struggling to come to terms with painful experiences, to face life's challenges, stresses and conflicts, both inner and outer. All people are unique and so are their experiences, that's why I meet you where you are and work to understand things from your point of view.

I believe in therapy and its ability to transform people’s lives for the better. I am passionate about empowering people to find their own way to healing and peace. Having therapy offers you a chance to stop and breathe, to have some calm amidst an increasingly busy world. You may be experiencing considerable distress, I will always be led by you and work carefully to help create a sense of safety and trust.

In our first session I will welcome you and we will go through a contract together and discuss confidentiality and safeguarding. We can talk about what has brought you to therapy, and I can share with you a bit more about how I work. People often feel they have been given an incomplete map of life; they feel lost and need a place to land to get their bearings. I hope our sessions can be that place for you.

As a supervisor my aim is to be flexible in how we work, I approach supervision in a collaborative, anti-oppressive and non-hierarchical way. I want to foster autonomy, I am not here to judge your work or tell you what to do I can offer interventions, experience and gentle challenge and questions when needed or asked for. 

I supervise both counsellors in training and qualified counsellors and can adapt to your needs. I recognise that supervisees need different types of support at different points in their learning and development.