Sidney Slaney

My working hours are between 6pm & 9pm, Wednesday and Thursday.

I practice from a very safe, calm and relaxing office environment in central Braintree with free parking and access via public transport.

My name is Sid and I am qualified integrative counsellor and registered member of the BACP, specialising in working with adolescents who find connection with themselves or others difficult. 

My 12 years experience working pastorally in educational settings  led me to pursue my qualification in counselling to better equip me to support the young people I work with, and help them to better understand themselves and their inner worlds.

I love working with teenagers and young adults who are hard to reach, express challenging behaviours and struggle to build positive relationships. They deserve the space to be listened to, validated and offered honesty and transparency, as well as seen beyond what they display on the outside which can often be deemed as negative.

I have had a successful career working with anxious school refusers, those with social, emotional & mental health difficulties as well as adolescents at risk of not being in education, employment or training. Since qualifying as a counsellor i've worked as a core team therapist for a charity as well as an associate counsellor at The Wilderness Foundation UK, offering outdoor therapy to those who prefer to be outside. I currently work in a pupil referral unit offering therapeutic intervention.

I offer an non-judgmental, honest & direct approach, and will  sometimes challenge depending on the need of each client. This supports empowerment within the client, aiding growth,  confidence and self-worth, helping them to move forward positively to enable them to thrive. This is a proven approach within my career that has helped me to help teenagers who feel lost, isolated, misunderstood, worthless, unheard and unseen; who act out in a negative way as the only way they know how to expres themselves.

I have a very down-to-earth approach and use a variety of different approaches and modalities to best suit my clients needs, as one shoe doesn't fit all. I offer the option of use of the arts such as pens, paint, emotion cards, clay and sand tray work, to allow safety through metaphor where words cannot be found so easily. 

At the core of my work and the most important ingredient is the relationship between me and my client, as this is fundamental in terms of progress being made.

The first session will be an initial 60 minute face-to-face assessment to ascertain the clients wishes and feelings and give them a chance to further explore the therapeutic process and ask any questions or concerns they may have. 

This gives the client a taster of our sessions and a feel of my counselling style and if i'm the right therapist for them. Once completed, we can book for the following sessions to start the work or the client can go away and have space to think how they wish to proceed. There is no pressure or obligation to book further sessions immediately, as it is important that I am the right person for the job.

Initial assessments are charged at £60 for 60 minutes

Sessions thereafter are charged at £60 for 50 minutes