Margaret Miller

I am available for counselling sessions (face to face, online or telephone) on Wednesday afternoons and all day on Thursdays and Fridays.

I have some limited availability for evening sessions. Please contact me to confirm my current evening availability.

All sessions are 50 minutes long.

Changes are why many of us seek counselling services. Changes we are trying to cope with, or those we are wanting to make. I am able to offer you professional, non-judgemental support to work on the changes in your life that may be troubling you.

Are you trying to come to terms with changes such as bereavements, losses, health conditions or relationships ending? Or are you wanting to make changes, for example to feel less anxious, or depressed or to have more self confidence? Maybe you want to change the direction your life is heading in or to change patterns of unhelpful thoughts and behaviours?

As a level 7 qualified counsellor I am able to provide a therapeutic relationship where you can talk freely, to enable us to "unravel" what is concerning you. My counselling practice draws on both the person-centred approach and additional level 5 training in cognitive behavioural therapeutic skills and theory (CBT).

Just putting your thoughts and feelings into words may be enough to enable you to gain the clarity and acceptance you need to "move on" and feel better in yourself. However if you want to work in a more structured way such as to tackle anxiety or low moods, the use of CBT techniques and theory offers a way to do so.  It does this by supporting the development of self awareness around the relationship between feelings, thoughts and behaviours and can help to identify any underlying, unhelpful rules, assumptions or beliefs we may have developed that are causing and maintaining the issues we are experiencing. With such insight, it is possible to start to make changes to these areas to improve how we are feeling.

In addition to working as a counsellor supporting clients across a wide range of issues, I also continue to work part time as a qualified, experienced social worker for adults. I believe this in addition to my counselling work and my own life experience supports my  ability to further understand and empathise with the variety of challenges life can present.

I have a small private counselling practice offering face to face, online and telephone sessions.

Face to face sessions are offered at Heswall Hills Counselling Centre CH60 1XF. The centre has comfortable therapy rooms, some with level access. The centre has also parking facilities and is accessible by public transport.

Having a safe place to explore our concerns and feelings when life gets tough can be particularly useful if we have no support systems, have family or friends who are trying to give us advice as to how to solve what they see as our problems or if we feel unable to tell others in our lives what we are struggling with as we fear criticism or causing upset and concern.

My aim is to offer you a counselling approach, session frequency and duration of service that is shaped by your goals and needs.

 With an awareness that committing to funding a counselling service can be challenging in the current economic climate, regular reviews are always incorporated into my practice to ensure we remain focused on the outcomes you are wanting to achieve and your experience of the service.

Before your first session we will have had a brief telephone discussion that has enabled you to establish that I am the counsellor you would like to work with. 

Before your first counselling session, you will also have been sent a copy of our counselling contract. This outlines my professional commitment to you and confirms the boundaries of our work together. At your first session we will initially discuss the contract and this is an opportunity for you to seek any further clarification that you may require. 

Your first session then offers an opportunity for us to explore why you are seeking counselling and the outcomes you hope to achieve. On the basis of this discussion, we can consider the best way for us to start working together, although this may change over time in response to how you are finding the service and/ or in relation to any changes in the outcomes you are wanting to achieve.