Lisa Smith

I currently have limited weekday evening and weekend availability.

Fees per session:

Online (Microsoft Teams) £40.00 

In-person (Chatham) £40.00

Counselling trainees: £30.00

My particular areas of interest and experience are all types of trauma including PTSD and CTSD, and the impact of childhood abuse during adulthood.  

I also use a specific form of behaviour-targeted therapy called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to bring effective manageability and outcomes for clients experiencing OCD.  

Whatever you bring to the therapy space, you'll take things at your own pace, so you won’t be expected to open up straight away (unless of course you want to).   I'll seek to understand what it's like to be you, listen attentively, with understanding, empathy and without judgment.  

All that said, I’m not a counsellor who believes that your counselling objectives will necessarily be achieved by solely listening and exploring feelings. I actively work WITH you to bring about positive change in your life.  Together we will come up with coping strategies tailored to your own needs, and explore different perspectives and ideas that can be realistically applied to your particular situation and problems.  

I offer open-ended work, so there is no limit to the number of sessions available to you.  How long a course of counselling takes varies greatly between individuals.  Some clients need only a few sessions to get what they need from counselling and others require a lot longer.  It's important that we work together at your pace .  

I conduct regular informal reviews to check the extent to which you feel you're making progress, so that anything which is working well can be built on, and anything which isn't, can be appropriately omitted or adjusted accordingly.  Counselling certainly is not a 'one size fits all' process, and it's vital for me (and you) to develop an understanding of what you personally need from the process in order for it to work.  

During your first session, I'll meet with you to gain a basic and broad understanding of your personal background and circumstances, what’s going on for you and what you hope to gain or change through counselling. This helps to ensure my skills and experience suit your needs, so that we can work together effectively and safely. This initial session is also a chance for you to get a flavour of what I offer and go get a sense of whether I’m someone you’d like to work with.

I allow 75 minutes for this initial session (although it doesn't always take that long). The fee for the initial session is £40.00.