Teresa Johnston

Current availability

I am currently accepting new clients for both in-person and online counselling.

Where I work

In person at Callendar House, Falkirk.

Online, by secure video, with clients across the UK and internationally.

Outdoors, as a Walk and Talk Therapist, for those who find they think and feel more freely while moving.

My working hours

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: in-person and online appointments.

Tuesday: online appointments only.

Every other Saturday morning.

Getting started

Before we begin, I offer a free 15 minute introductory call. It is an unhurried, no-obligation conversation, a chance to hear one another's voice and to sense whether we are a good fit. Please contact me directly and we will find a time that suits you.

Time off

I take around five weeks of leave across the year. Existing clients are always given plenty of notice, and any planned closures are posted here in advance.

Most people come to counselling at a point where the usual ways of coping have stopped working quite as well as they used to. Perhaps something has ended. Perhaps nothing has changed at all, and that is the trouble.

Whatever it is, you do not need to explain it well before you arrive.

I work in a person-centred way. In practice that means I will not interpret you to yourself or hand you a programme to follow. You lead, and I stay close, listening for what sits underneath the words as much as within them. People often find they knew a great deal already, and simply had nowhere quiet enough to hear it.

Much of what we carry lives in the body as well as the memory. If it helps, we can work with the nervous system directly, noticing what settles you and what puts you on alert, and build from there. We can make room for the different parts of you that want different things. We can follow dreams, images, and the patterns that keep circling back. And if stillness appeals, I am a certified mindfulness teacher and can offer practices to carry into ordinary days. All of it is by invitation.

We can meet in person at Callendar House in Falkirk, online wherever you are in the UK or beyond, or outdoors as walking sessions, which suit some people far better than sitting in a room.

Before counselling I spent eighteen years in cancer care, latterly at Maggie's Centres. Illness, grief, and the long quiet labour of caring for someone else are familiar ground to me. I hold an MSc in Psychology, am a Registered Member of BACP and a Member of the BPS, and I work with neurodivergent clients, with training in autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia.

About me and my therapy practice

Some weeks you may arrive knowing exactly what you want to say. Other weeks you may arrive with only a feeling and no words for it yet. Both are welcome, and both are workable.

My practice is person-centred, which means you set the direction and the pace. My part is to stay alongside you with steady attention and genuine warmth, so that you can hear yourself think.

Within that, I work with:

The body as well as the story. Much of what we carry is held in the nervous system rather than in memory alone. Drawing on polyvagal theory and somatic awareness, we can learn together what settles you and what stirs you.

The parts of you that disagree. Informed by Internal Family Systems, we make room for the protective part, the frightened part, and the part that longs for change, so they can be heard together rather than in conflict.

Depth and symbol. Jungian ideas offer a language for dreams, patterns and the images that keep returning.

Mindfulness. As a certified meditation teacher, I can offer simple practices to carry into daily life, always by invitation.

I see clients in person at Callendar House in Falkirk, online across the UK and internationally, and outdoors as a Walk and Talk Therapist for those who find that movement loosens what stillness holds.

I hold an MSc in Psychology and am a Registered Member of BACP and a Member of the BPS. Before counselling I spent eighteen years in cancer care, including at Maggie's Centres. I also work with neurodivergent clients, with training in autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia.

I think of this work as growing roots rather than building armour. Armour keeps you upright for a while. Roots let you bend in weather and stay standing.

My first session

Before we meet

We begin with a free 15 minute introductory call. It is a short, unhurried conversation to hear what brings you and to sense whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation on either side.

If we decide to go ahead, I will send you a client agreement and a short intake form to complete before our first session. These cover confidentiality, how your information is held and protected, and what you can expect from me. Reading them in your own time means our first session can be spent on you rather than on paperwork.

What the first session is like

The first session runs for the same length as every session that follows, and is charged at the same rate. There is no separate assessment fee.

Mostly, we talk. You are welcome to bring as much or as little of your story as feels right. I may ask what brings you now, what you are hoping for, and what has already helped you along the way. If you would rather begin somewhere else entirely, that is fine too. Nothing needs to be covered in the first hour.

Measuring how things are going

I may offer a brief wellbeing questionnaire, such as CORE-10 or the Strathclyde Inventory. These are entirely optional and are not tests. They simply give us a shared reference point, so that we can notice together how things shift over time.

Afterwards

There is no obligation to book again. Fit matters more than anything else in this work, and it is quite alright to take time, or to look elsewhere. If you would like to continue, we will agree a regular time that suits your week.