Jonathan Whitmore

I work Monday mornings, Wednesday afternoons and Friday afternoons.

Hello; thank you for looking at my profile.

I primarily offer therapy in outdoor, natural spaces in and around the Bingley area of West Yorkshire. 

I actively involve the setting as a third party in the work. This isn't 'walk and talk' therapy however; I will ask you to consider what the space is saying to, and how it is treating, you. Doing this uses the space as a second therapist, and creates opportunities for reflection, meaning making, challenge and support that would otherwise not be possible. 

I also offer an online service.

On contact with me, I will suggest we arrange a 15-30min phone or online introductory session (at no charge). Given how important a good relationship is between client and therapist, this first session gives you a chance to see if I am a good fit for you; I will also use this session to ask the following questions of you:

- Whether you have any goals for therapy, and if so, what are they (although if a client comes with no such goals, that is fine and will not reduce the effectiveness of the work).

- Whether you have had therapy before, and what was good and bad about that experience.

- Whether you are currently having suicidal thoughts, or thoughts of harming yourself in some way.

These questions are to enable us both to understand how best I can support you.

During the first couple of sessions, I will ask you to consider your relationship with nature and the outdoors. I will also ask you questions to enable me to better understand your support network, and what soothes you.

When the relationship with a client is strong enough, I might introduce challenges such as highlighting where a client has contradicted themself, to spotlight maybe where they aren’t being honest with themself or might not know what their reality is, which can help clarify thinking. Fundamentally however, I try to make you feel supported and valued.

If you want to find specific solutions to your problems, then I will support you in exploring your options; I won’t however offer you advice or tell you what to do, as only you have all the information to enable a considered decision about issues affecting your life, whether it feels that way or not.

I regularly review how work is progressing by asking my clients how they feel they are benefiting and if they want to change how we are working. Again, sometimes I use very brief questionnaires for this purpose.

In the first session, we will focus on getting to know each other and the outdoor space in which we work. Although all of the time we spend together will be guided by you and what you want to look at and achieve, we might explore the different habitats accessible in the space, and start to develop a sense of the relationship between you and each of those, and how we might use that understanding in future sessions.