Kirsti Sandom

I have availability for face to face sessions at my counselling room in Rochester and for online clients via Zoom.   Currently, my evening appointments are fully booked but I have a few morning and afternoon appointment times available.  

I offer weekdays only.  My earliest appointment time is 9am and the last appointment at 6.30pm.

I understand how daunting it can be to begin counselling, particularly if it’s your first time. As your counsellor, my aim is to build a therapeutic relationship of depth and trust, working intuitively, sensitively and collaboratively with you and without pre-conception. I provide a calm, safe and non-judgemental space, where you can feel accepted, understood and heard in complete confidentiality.

As an integrative therapist, my style is flexible in order to work with my clients’ needs as they arise. Every client is different so I ensure that we choose an approach that will work for you and a holistic way of working that is individual to your uniqueness. Being an integrative counsellor means that I will lean into different therapeutic modalities, adapting the way we work together to fit in with your needs and circumstances. At the heart of this, I work in a person-centred way, seeing your potential, encouraging its growth and working with you to develop your self-awareness.  

Whatever you’re struggling with, be it depression, grief, self-esteem, anxiety or relationship issues, we can look at the jigsaw pieces of your life together, to help you gain clarity. This may involve exploring the past, sometimes childhood experiences, to identify patterns in emotions and behaviours which shine a light on current issues. You may be grappling with life’s meaning after bereavement, a relationship breakdown or job loss. Any kind of loss can have a huge impact on our mental wellbeing. I work with you to help you make sense of things & find meaning and purpose in order to move forward and to feel less lost.

Counselling can be a transformative and healing experience as we spend time reflecting on our thoughts and feelings in the presence of another person.  We all have the capacity to make the changes needed to move forward when we are given the time and patience to understand ourselves better. I work in a warm, authentic and compassionate way.  I will sit alongside you to explore issues and ultimately find ways to cope.

As well as my private practice, I work at a hospice with bereaved family members, carers and patients nearing end of life. I also volunteer for a national mental health charity offering low-cost, long-term counselling.  I am a qualified yoga teacher and consequently, a mindfulness and breathwork enthusiast, which is something that I can incorporate into sessions if it suits the client.

I recommend that we have a no obligation, free of charge 20 minute phone or Zoom chat initially, to find out if we are a good fit to work together.  That way you get a feel of how comfortable you feel with me.  Our first session would be an assessment where I discover more about you and your history, and importantly what your needs and goals for the therapy are.  It provides the context for the work we will then do together.  That session would be approximately an hour long, sometimes more.  Thereafter, our regular sessions are 50 minutes.  I offer weekly or fortnightly sessions (if fortnightly, only pre 5.30pm).  A lot of clients prefer to have an open ended agreement and we would check in regularly on how things are progressing.  However, if working in a time limited fashion suits you more, we can agree a number of sessions up front.