Dorothy Fennel

Weekly, in-person and/or online sessions currently available during working/school hours. A comfortable setting in my home in St Werburghs, BS2. Contact me to book an initial half-price session. 

Reduced cost sessions available for counselling trainees and women on low-incomes. 

I am an experienced counsellor of over 10 years, specialising in women’s mental health and wellbeing.  I work from a broadly psychodynamic perspective, also drawing on creative and reflective methods including image, colour, story, object-based techniques and mindfulness-based approaches where helpful.

I am based in St Werburghs, Bristol BS2. In-person and/or online sessions available.

I am a primarily psychodynamic counsellor, which means that we will generally explore your present difficulties with reference to your past experiences and childhood. Our early life and relationships can unconsciously shape our sense of ourselves and create patterns in our behaviour and way of relating. Sometimes we find ourselves feeling stuck or at a point of crisis in our emotional lives, and psychodynamic counselling offers an opportunity to understand and untangle inner conflicts and areas of distress in a way which can bring both solace and change.

Alongside this depth-oriented work, I draw on a range of complementary approaches such as mindfulness and self-compassion practices, creative and reflective techniques, inner child work, trauma treatment theory, and feminist counselling principles. We might bring breath and body awareness into sessions either as a brief grounding tool or as a more regular part of work together - using mindfulness practices to meet difficult feelings with more steadiness and compassion. We might also explore your inner world using images, objects or other creative materials. There is no single template — we will find the rhythm that suits you.

As a feminist therapist it is my belief that women’s inner worlds are shaped not just by their personal experiences, but by the experience of being female in a patriarchal society. Difficulties such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction and self-injury, can be understood partly as symptoms of the disturbance arising in response to these experiences. In our work together we will always bear in mind how your experience of being a woman in the world may have influenced what you are currently going through. Counselling can also be a chance to explore what being a woman means to you, for in addition to understanding the challenges, we will value and celebrate the infinite varieties of strength, wisdom and creativity that womanhood can embody

I offer an initial half-price session at £25. This will be an opportunity to explore what has brought you to counselling and for us both to get a sense of whether we are suited to working together.

If you are interested in working with me, please drop a line here, via my website or on WhatsApp. If I have suitable availability, we can schedule an initial appointment. 

I look forward to hearing from you.