Gwynneth Costecalde

I am working part-time. Sessions from 9.30am-8pm. Possibility of Saturday sessions when needed. 

I trained in CBT after having worked in publishing and raising my family. Various personal life events, perhaps the most relevant is having been raised by a disabled working parent, which has been the most powerful influence in my life to date. Observations of the life challenges faced by family and friends over the years led me to work with Samaritans and eventually to train in CBT and other modalities. Having lived in France for the past 8 years, I used these skills to work with Cancer Support France both as an active listener and Therapist as well as having some private referrals. I am now based in Cirencester and excited to set up a little Practice here.

It was a privilege to work with clients facing the ultimate uncertainty in life. As you can imagine this encapsulates working with every anxiety disorder that exists. I was able to adapt CBT to other modalities such as ACT for the benefits of my clients and their families.

My other area of special interest is in parenting and young people. By the time an adult arrives at the therapist’s door, they have acquired, over the first 18 years of life, strong core beliefs that often work to their benefit but also negative beliefs that unfortunately work to their detriment. These beliefs, whether they realise it or not, play a huge part in present day adult difficulty.

 I love to work with parents interested in understanding how such strong negative beliefs develop in the first place and how to prevent this happening. We call it Psycho-education. It can make a big difference to child rearing approach and understanding of how children can be so different from each other, and how they consider themselves when they are growing up in the exact same setting.

In my experience, when clients arrive at therapy they are in distress, visible sometimes, and other times not; but some kind of dysfunction in their lives is taking place and they are not coping. I have read that CBT does not consider the past, rather concentrating on present difficult situations. But we do have to look back to identify patterns and learn and we do so in the first few sessions. If we did not do this, we would not be able to help in a meaningful way. However, it is true that we do not dwell on the past, rather we use what we learn to move forward, helping the client with present difficulties, which will also provide a good foundation for dealing with future challenges.

Only then do we start to use the tools that will ease the current distressing situation they are dealing with internally or externally. This is not easy work at all and can be painful, but you shouldn’t fear that as we know sadness and pain are part of our life experience and can be used toward growth and personal building. CBT requires good collaboration with the therapist. So, the aspect of trust between therapist and client is vital and the therapeutic alliance is one of the most important aspects in relation to a positive outcome.  

I am currently involved in writing books for children under the series title "Rubble Builders", to promote resilience and healthy balanced minds. I like to think of all my clients in this way because so many of us have had to make new starts, in difficult circumstances, drawing on what has been helpful in our past to improve and to create change in the present and for the future. This is what CBT aims to do: evidence based, practical, confidential, compassionate and non-judgemental. I like to think of it as talking with a purpose that extends beyond words. 

As a CBT Therapist I work in conjunction with:

- ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)

- CFT (Compassion Focused Therapy)

- Myers-Briggs (MBTI)

- Cardiac Coherence techniques. 

The first few sessions are all about building your personal case formulation (your personal jigsaw puzzle) - understanding what beliefs you have acquired over the early years into adulthood that relate to Yourself, Others, and the World around you. These beliefs are relevant as to how you think and perceive. They absolutely influence how you feel. Some core beliefs may be to your benefit, but others won't be. This is our foundational work. Once this is understood and discussed, we can start to build in the present and for the future.

If you feel that you would like to learn more or discuss the possibility of sessions please get in touch with me by email at gcostecalde@gmail.com. We can then organise a free 20-minute phone call to see if CBT could help in your situation and for you to get a sense of me as a person before you decide to commit to Therapy.