Steven Lowe

Availability Monday through Thursday, starting at 4pm and finishing at 8pm. Morning appointments available on Fridays.

Starting counselling can feel like a big step, particularly if you’ve spent a long time coping on your own. You may feel uncertain about what to expect, unsure how to put things into words, or worried about being judged. My aim is to offer a calm, respectful space where you can speak openly and be met with warmth, curiosity, and care. You don’t need to arrive with a clear plan — we can begin wherever you are.

I work integratively, primarily using person-centred and cognitive behavioural approaches. This means our work is shaped around you, your experiences, and what matters most in your life. Some sessions may focus on understanding unhelpful patterns of thought or behaviour and developing practical ways to manage them. At other times, the focus may simply be on having the space to reflect, feel heard, and make sense of difficult experiences at your own pace.

I have a particular interest in health anxiety and the emotional impact of physical illness or medical trauma. When the body has been through something frightening, it’s common for anxiety, hypervigilance, or fear to persist even after physical recovery. Therapy can help you rebuild trust in your body and reduce the sense that anxiety is running your life.

I also work with issues such as anxiety, bereavement, loneliness, and life transitions, and I bring experience from working with children and young people in school and college settings. This has shaped a flexible, creative, and developmentally sensitive way of working.

I see therapy as a collaborative process. You are the expert in your own life; my role is to support you in developing insight, resilience, and a greater sense of choice. Above all, I aim to offer a space that feels safe, compassionate, and grounded — where change can happen in a way that feels right for you.

My practice is built around offering therapy that is accessible, flexible, and responsive to the realities of people’s lives. I provide in-person counselling in Carrington, as well as online sessions for those who prefer or need remote support. I also offer talk-and-walk therapy, which some clients find helps conversations flow more naturally; these sessions are dog-friendly, and you’re very welcome to bring your dog along if that feels supportive for you.

I offer both brief and longer-term therapy, depending on your needs. If you have a specific issue or goal you’d like to focus on, we can work within a time-limited framework of around six to eight sessions. Alternatively, we can take a more open-ended approach, working at a pace that feels right for you. We’ll regularly review how the work is going, what feels helpful, and whether any changes are needed, so that therapy remains collaborative and purposeful rather than prescriptive.

Before training as a counsellor, I spent over twenty years working within mental health services. This background has given me a strong understanding of the pressures faced by people living with mental health difficulties, as well as those supporting them. I have a particular appreciation for the emotional demands placed on carers, support workers, and those in caring or frontline roles, where there is often little space to focus on one’s own wellbeing.

I’m mindful that financial barriers can prevent people from accessing therapy when they need it most. For this reason, I offer concessionary rates for people in supportive or caring roles, carers of family members, and counselling students. My aim is to provide a therapeutic relationship that feels respectful, grounded, and realistic — a space where you can feel supported while we work together toward greater clarity, balance, and emotional resilience.

The first session is an opportunity for us to get a sense of whether working together feels right for you. There is no pressure to commit beyond this session; its main purpose is to help you decide whether I am the right therapist for your needs and whether my way of working feels supportive and comfortable.

During this session, we will spend time getting to know you and what has brought you to therapy. We’ll explore your current concerns, relevant background, and what you hope to gain from counselling. I’ll also carry out an initial assessment, which helps ensure the work we do is appropriate, ethical, and tailored to your situation. This includes discussing practicalities such as confidentiality, boundaries, and how we would work together, so you have a clear understanding of what to expect.

If you have particular goals in mind, we can begin to identify these together, while recognising that goals can change or become clearer over time. If you’re unsure what you want from therapy, that’s absolutely fine — we can hold this lightly and allow it to emerge as the work develops.

Therapy sessions are usually one-to-one, but if having a trusted or supportive person with you for the first session would help you feel safer or more settled, I’m open to discussing this. My priority is that the first session feels welcoming, respectful, and grounded, giving you the space to ask questions, share at your own pace, and make an informed decision about how you’d like to proceed.