Suzanne Jackson

At the monent I do have some availability to take on new clients. My hours and days of work are flexible, between 8am 8pm, Monday to Saturday. 

I offer in person from my home office, or online counselling. 

I offer CBT counselling. I have worked in the NHS for over 40 years as a Registered Nurse, and District Nurse and then worked for 15 years as a Community Macmillan Nurse. 

I completed my Counselling training at Newport University and chose to focus on CBT model of counselling. I worked in Health Psychology for over 11 years working with clients with Long Term Physical Health Conditions, until I retired in February 2025. 

My main interests in counselling are supporting and working with clients who are struggling to adjust to life with an on-going physical health condition, these can vary from Parkinson’s Disease, Disbetes, Cancer, MS, Chronic Fatigue and many more conditions. 

I am also a Licensed Lay Funeral Minister which involves supporting families to plan and deliver a funeral service for their loved ones and supporting them in their grief and bereavement. 

I thoroughly enjoy meeting and working with people from many different backgrounds and circumstances.

When I am not counselling I enjoy gardening, knitting, meeting up with friends, travelling and especially spending time by the sea. Clients report that I am friendly, empathic and approachable and they feel comfortable and safe to explore their difficulties with me, which is a huge priviledge. 

I offer an initial assessment in person, if possible, or online if necessary. I then siggest that we review how things are going after 3 sessions and again after 6 sessions. Each session is 60 minutes. My notes are kept securely and sessions are confidential as per BACP code of conduct. 

My first session is a full assessment, in which I explore what the client is struggling with and would like to work on. I  explain the CBT model of counselling - identifying unhelpful thought patterns and the evidence which does and does not support them. Then gently exploring/challenging whether the unhelpful thoughts can be replaced with more accurate and helpful thoughts. Thoughts affect how we feel and what we do. They can be changed, but this is often difficult to do on our own. Clients may also have rules for living which were helpful in the past but may be less helpful now. 

I explain how long and how often sessions usually are, both mine and the client’s availability. Confidentiality, record keeping, and consequences if risks are identified. 

Homework is a usual practice in CBT therapy and clients need to be aware that they maybe asked to keep a thought diary, for example. Have they had counselling before?  What style or model of counselling was it? What was helpful? What was less helpful? Are they having other professional help at present?