Dawn Dutfield

I offer in-person, Zoom and telephone sessions between 8am and 6pm on Mondays and Fridays, and I also have limited availability for mid-week evening appointments. Please get in touch for further details.

Loss can affect us in profound and life-changing ways. For some, this may be the death of someone important; for others, it may be the loss of a relationship, health, identity, or sense of safety. Grief is not always straightforward, and it can sometimes feel overwhelming, confusing, delayed, or difficult to understand. 

Alongside my wider therapeutic work, I have a particular specialism in grief, bereavement, and prolonged grief, and I offer a compassionate space in which these experiences can be explored safely and at your own pace.

At times, everybody struggles, although some people find it easier than others to move through difficult periods. Speaking with a therapist can be an important first step towards greater clarity, understanding, and meaningful change.

I have supported people for many years, initially as a registered paramedic before retraining as a therapist and launching my private counselling practice in 2020. That background gave me a strong foundation in working with people during distressing and emotionally demanding times, and it continues to shape the calm, compassionate way I work.

I am experienced and empathic in supporting people with a wide range of emotional and psychological difficulties. Whether you are seeking help with something specific, feeling stuck, or trying to make better sense of yourself and your experiences, I offer a safe, confidential, and non-judgemental space in which to explore what is happening for you.

My approach is flexible and responsive to the individual. I draw on a range of therapeutic approaches, tools, and techniques to tailor sessions to your needs and goals.

I am qualified and experienced in Prolonged Grief Therapy through the Center for Prolonged Grief in New York City, and I regularly attend consultation with the specialist therapists and psychologists there to support and inform my practice.

For clients who feel that a shorter piece of work may be more appropriate, I also offer Single Session Therapy where suitable.

I am an integrative therapist working within a person-centred model, and I am trained and qualified in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Rewind Therapy, Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Prolonged Grief Therapy.

My areas of specialist interest include grief and loss, prolonged grief, trauma, anxiety, depression, cancer, self-esteem difficulties, and anger management.

I believe that therapy should feel collaborative, supportive, and purposeful. Adapting unhelpful thought patterns can be part of creating positive and meaningful change, but therapy can also help you process emotions, make sense of your experiences, and move forwards with greater confidence and self-awareness.

Your first session can be arranged by email or text, or following a short no-obligation telephone or online consultation. I feel it is important for us to have the opportunity to speak informally first, so that we can briefly discuss the presenting issue(s) and whether I am the right therapist for you.

This initial 15-minute consultation is free of charge and is not mandatory.

I offer supervision sessions at varying times between 17:00 and 20:00 on Wednesdays, and between the core hours of 09:00 and 18:00 on Mondays and Fridays. I am not available on weekends or bank holidays.

My experience and training have shown me the value of good supervision and, most importantly, of a supervisor who listens carefully, understands the process, offers support, and guides without judgement. I aim to provide a supervisory relationship that feels safe, collaborative, professionally containing, and genuinely useful, while also encouraging reflection, confidence, and growth.

Before retraining as a counsellor, I worked for over 12 years as a frontline NHS paramedic. Alongside my counselling training and clinical practice, this has given me strong skills in risk assessment, ethical decision-making, client management, safeguarding, and handling sensitive conversations with clarity and compassion. I completed training in advanced clinical supervision in 2022.

Most of my current work centres around individual client practice, although I am also trained and experienced in group facilitation and regularly coordinate and manage both online and face-to-face groups of up to eight participants. I am also trained and experienced in working with couples, which enables me to support supervisees working across a broad range of presentations and relational dynamics.

A significant area of my clinical practice is grief and bereavement. I am qualified and experienced in Prolonged Grief Therapy through the Center for Prolonged Grief in New York City, and I regularly attend consultation with the specialist therapists and psychologists there. This specialist knowledge can be particularly valuable for supervisees working with bereavement, trauma, and complex grief, including where loss feels prolonged, layered, or clinically significant.

Alongside my clinical work, I serve as a Trustee for a leading mental health charity, where I provide clinical feedback and contribute as Safeguarding Lead. This further strengthens my understanding of governance, safeguarding, ethical oversight, and reflective practice, all of which I bring into supervision in a grounded, warm, and thoughtful way.

As an integrative therapist, I work mainly from a person-centred perspective while also drawing on approaches such as CBT, Motivational Interviewing, Rewind Therapy, EMDR, and Prolonged Grief Therapy where appropriate. My practice is grounded in the belief that each client, and each therapist, brings unique needs, strengths, pressures, and meanings to the work, and that therapy and supervision should respond to that with flexibility and care.

Much of my counselling experience has been in grief and bereavement, anxiety, depression, and trauma. I also have experience of supporting clients with OCD and adults living with cancer. Alongside my core clinical training, I have postgraduate training in the Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health, which has strengthened my understanding of trauma, attachment, stress, emotion, and the wider factors shaping psychological wellbeing. I also hold a PgDip in Occupational and Organisational Psychology, which means I bring awareness of workplace culture, professional identity, team dynamics, burnout, and organisational pressures into the supervision space where relevant.

My supervision training includes the Seven-Eyed Model and developmental approaches such as the Integrated Developmental Model (IDM). This enables me to offer supervision that is reflective, containing, and responsive to where you are in your professional development, whether you are in training, newly qualified, or more established in practice.

As your supervisor, I will offer you a space to bring your client work openly and safely, think through professional challenges, and reflect on process, relationship, risk, ethics, and safeguarding. My aim is to help you feel heard, supported, and thoughtfully challenged, while nurturing your development, resilience, and confidence in practice.

Before our first booked session, I will send you a preparatory form to help guide the content of our work together. This does not need to be followed rigidly; it is simply intended as an aide to help you make the most of the time available.

I do not require a formal assessment before our first session, although I do ask supervisees to come prepared to use the space purposefully. My expectations around this are outlined clearly in the sessional agreement, which will be sent to you before we meet.