Faith Stafford

My normal working hours are 9am to 6pm, Monday to Thursday. I currently have availability within my practice.

I offer both short-term counselling and long-term psychotherapy. The focus of work is agreed with the client and is regularly reviewed to ensure that we are working on those issues most relevant to the client(s). My orientation is humanistic integrative, incorporating: person-centred, psychodynamic, systemic, cognitive/behavioural, NLP, solution-focused, transpersonal, existential, narrative and transactional analysis approaches. I work with couples, individuals and groups.  I am a BACP senior accredited counsellor and psychotherapist and abide by BACP ethical framework for good practice. 

My work is also influenced by the 18 years I spent working for Relate as counsellor and supervisor. In addition, I have an MSc in Counselling, Supervision and Training from Bristol University. My PhD, from the University of Exeter, focused on the impact of successful counselling, looking in particular at the role of the Hero and Scapegoat archetypes. My understanding is that successful counselling puts people back in touch with their own 'can do' selves. I use my skills, training and experience in the service of my clients. Each client is unique and so, which skills I use and how is dependent on what each client needs.  I am also aware that, after so many years of practice, my model of therapy is also going to be unique to my practice. At the same time, I see it as essential for the safety of myself and my clients, that my practice should remain within professional and legal guidelines.  

I have developed a model of multicultural counselling which is used by Ubuntu Devon, the multicultural counselling service which I run.

I offer both face-to-face and online sessions. Face-to-face therapy takes place in my private counselling room.  For online therapy, clients need to have a private space, with WiFi, where they can be uninterrupted for the session. For couple work and working with trauma, I prefer face-to-face sessions, as I think these work better in such situations.

I keep brief notes of each session, to act as an aide-memoire. These notes are kept in a locked cabinet and are destroyed after six years. Outcome measures such as GAD7 or PHQ9 can be helpful in tracking the progress of counselling for both clients and myself. However, I would normally use such measures around every fourth session rather than every session, as they can feel a bit intrusive or 'formulaic' to some clients. When used, they can be a useful way of monitoring just what has changed - or not changed - and why. They can be a useful indicator of any 'risk factors' that may need attention.

I have regular monthly supervision with two different senior colleagues.  Although this exceeds  BACP requirements, I find it helpful to have this level of expertise available to me.  It ensures that I have the breadth of support to cover relationships, trauma, in-depth psychotherapy, brief therapy, organisational work and an extensive experience across both private and statutory services.

The first session is a business meeting to assess client needs and compare these with what counselling can offer. It is an opportunity for the client to ask any questions they may want about counselling, or the way I work; and an opportunity for me to gain an understanding of what the client is looking for from therapy. Hopefully, by the end of the session, we will have formed an impression of what it would be like to work together. Issues like our mutual availability, and being clear about expectations on both sides, ensure that management of the sessions runs smoothly. We will also agree payment of fees and how this will happen. Matters such as the 24 hours notice needed for cancellation of sessions, to avoid a charge being made, are also dealt with. Discretion will be exercised in the case of unavoidable events, such as sudden illness. Clients will be given as much notice as possible about dates when I may be unavailable. It is important that clients are made aware of the limits of confidentiality as early as possible within this first session.  Sessions are normally once a week for between 50 minutes and one hour. However, I do cater for those who may work shifts or irregular hours, as far as possible. The 'business' of the first session sets out the contract between myself and the client(s).