Sally Spigner

Normal hours of work

Mon    3:00 PM to 7:30 PM

Tue      9:00 AM to 7:30 PM

Wed    2:00 PM to 7:30 PM

Thu      9:00 AM to 7:30 PM

Fri        2:00 PM to 7:00 PM

I work part time as a counsellor and so am often able to fit people in at short notice. I do not demand that you attend every single week. I offer short and long term counselling from teenage upwards to the end of life.

Hourly sessions cost £60 for an individual, £70 for a couple, and I do offer longer sessions of 90 minutes instead of the standard hour for clients who are only able to attend infrequently. These are charged at £80 for an individual, £85 for a couple.

For young people before age 21, the unemployed or those in receipt of universal credit my concessionary rate is £55.

If you need the same day and time for each appointment please let me know when you get in touch, so that I can see whether or not I might be able to match that expectation.

Have you been feeling overwhelmed, stressed out or depressed? Are you getting angry and snapping at your family or partner, or feeling depressed, crying too easily and feeling that your needs come last in the scheme of things. 

Maybe every time you get a moment to yourself there is a niggling problem which pops back into your head, refusing to be ignored? You might be questioning your sexuality, or desperately wanting to leave a toxic relationship of some kind but unable to make the first move.  Cultural and family expectations can prove impossible to negotiate, it could be that at work you are being bullied, or watching less experienced staff climbing the professional ladder and being promoted above you. If any of these is the case, you might be able to benefit from counselling.

I provide psychotherapeutic counselling combined with positive psychology techniques and mindfulness somatic methods to help you to quiet your mind if you are overthinking, and evaluation methods to use rather than catastrophising.  If your coping mechanisms are failing you, it is possible to learn to calmly cope with the challenges that life brings, instead of reacting in haste and regretting your actions in leisure.

Some of my clients have inadvertently become experts in worrying, in fact we have joked about the fact that I could give them any subject and they could develop a paralysing worry about it overnight.  Do you recognise that the biggest thing holding you back is yourself?  If you are sabotaging yourself with inaction due to anxiety, it is within your reach to reprogram yourself to become more assertive and advocate for yourself in the future.

I work from a pleasant office in my own home, there is no need to feel intimidated in any way.  I understand that it may have taken you a long time to reach this point of enquiring about counselling and I do not want to make this any more difficult for you.

Although it doesn't feel that way right now, you are the expert in your life and not myself.  My role is to help you to get back into the driving seat of your life.  You decide what we will speak about, in your own time and at your own pace.

I use techniques in my practise which I have often tried myself at various stages of my life and found to be helpful.  I understand it when clients are nervous about becoming upset or crying in session because I did this myself during my extensive therapy during my own training.  I aim to provide a safe environment in which you can discuss everything you are worrying about, things which it would not feel safe to be open about with family or friends who have their own personal expectations of you.  Here you can become upset, safe in the knowledge that I will ensure that you are centred and balanced again before you leave.  

I am not here to judge any of the decisions you have previously made, nor the situations in which you found yourself, in actual fact the more dreadful or shameful the memory you share with me, the more of a privilege I feel it is that you should allow me the chance to help you with it.  Just because you are not sure how this might work for you, should that mean that you deny yourself the opportunity to be guided in methodology which could help you get ahead in the future?

For couples counselling do know that I am not going to be taking sides, in these instances my client is your relationship rather than you two and individuals.  We would be  getting you to really define how you want your relationship to look, exploring how your family life as children influences your thinking, and trying some exercise to encourage the two of you to communicate better.

The first session is an opportunity for us to get to know each other and make sure that we both feel comfortable both talking and working together.  There is no obligation for you to return if you have any doubts at all, I will not take it personally and recognise that I am not the therapist for everybody. 

We will talk about what is bringing you here at this time, possibly some of the history of the challenges you are experiencing, and try to work out what you would like to get from your sessions.  I offer a full hour for all of my appointments, some counsellors work only 50 minute sessions.  If you cannot attend frequently you may like to take advantage of my longer 90 minute appointments.

I would ask for details about how you are being affected right now to enable us to think together about how you would prefer your life to look. If I feel that you would benefit more from seeing a therapist with more specialist training then I would tell you then, and show you how you might source that help yourself if I did not know of an appropriate contact to refer you on to.

I will suggest some ways in which we might be able to work together.  Depending upon how frequently you are able to come there is likely to be some sort of homework or reflective practise to try in between sessions, so that this can be revised when we meet again.  I am a very straightforward person and I hope that you would feel comfortable enough to tell me if I was suggesting methods that you know you would not be able to consider doing, we can always find another way.

Counselling is not an easy journey, it's success depends upon the reflection you make in between sessions and your willingness to try something new.  Once you take those problems out of the storage you have them safely contained in, sometimes they will not get back inside and you are forced to confront them.  This takes great bravery.

You have got this far, my great hope is that you will make that call regardless of whether it is to me or not.