Julie Laugere

My name is Julie, and I am a Creative Arts Counsellor who works with the arts alongside talking therapy.

Perhaps you鈥檝e found yourself feeling unseen, unheard, or not truly understood. Maybe getting up each day has become a struggle, or that sickening, lingering, and sometimes overwhelming feeling of anxiety or panic seems to be taking over. The daily stresses of life feeling heavy and overwhelming, all becoming too much.

Here, you鈥檒l find a space to explore these challenges. Together, we can gently begin to peel back the layers to uncover what lies beneath those anxious thoughts, what drives your patterns of behaviour, how your relationships with others are shaped, and where those self-critical thoughts of not being good enough have taken root. By bringing awareness to who we are and how we鈥檝e been shaped and by gently challenging these thoughts, we can begin to move towards change.

Using the arts, we can combine talking therapy with different materials such as pastels, clay, paint, or just pencils, pens and paper. You don鈥檛 need to be 鈥済ood at art鈥� to benefit, working creatively can be especially helpful when words can鈥檛 be found. It can support regulation, show us new perspectives, and offer a gentle, bottom-up way of processing trauma.

My approach is warm and compassionate. I work collaboratively with you towards your goals. Integratively trained, I draw on both psychodynamic and humanistic perspectives but predominantly offering a person-centred approach. At the heart of every session, though, is a relationship built on kindness, curiosity, and trust.

Whether you鈥檙e facing anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges, or feelings of self-doubt and low self-esteem, I offer a space where you can feel contained, heard, seen, and truly understood.

All sessions are tailored to your needs and can involve working with the arts but can also involve just talking. 

 What can a Creative Therapy session look like?

Creative therapy uses talking, just like conventional counselling, but adds the power of the arts. This can include using drawing painting, pastels, clay or sand tray for example, as a way to help express difficult feelings and emotions, especially when words are not enough or are difficult to find. Using a variety of art materials, can help you gain new and deeper insights. 

For those who have experienced trauma or difficult life events, the arts can be particularly helpful. It provides a safe, unpressured space to express emotions that may be difficult to articulate. This approach can help you process complex feelings, especially when you're feeling overwhelmed, and regain a sense of control over what life鈥檚 challenges may have taken away. Together, we can explore your life and relationships from new perspectives, allowing you to reshape your story in a way that feels more manageable.

I currently work out of the Happy Body Project near Bedford. Set in beautiful countryside, the rooms are calming and inviting with all rooms being accessible and on the ground floor. 

 https://www.happybodyproject.co.uk/expert/julie-laugere/

I offer a free initial 20 mins introductory call to see if I am the right therapist for you. If the session feels right then we can go a head and book in our first session together. 

I offer both face to face and online sessions.

Typically the first session is a chance for me to find out more about you and what your are looking for in terms of personal goals. This would be as an informal assessment where you would tell me more about what has brought you to therapy, your family history and your daily life. 

 We would typically meet once a week at the same time, but there is flexibility if this doesn鈥檛 fit with your needs. There are no set number of sessions, instead focusing on what works best for you, whether this is in person or online.

Due to also being an experienced teacher, I have an interest in supporting parents, carers and adult siblings of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and I have extensive experience in working with neurodivergent individuals.