Barbara’s Contact Details
07506 657 191
barbaratt@btinternet.com
Existential Psychotherapy asks us the fundamental question “Who are you, and how are you to live?”
Perhaps you might be already asking yourself this. How is it to be you right now in the world in which you find yourself? What’s really going on? What isn’t happening? What choices do you actually have, and how did things end up like this? What’s going to happen? How can you find what you struggle to say or understand how to be with the feelings and situations that make you uncomfortable? Why is it so difficult sometimes to be with other people?
I am a qualified Existential Psychotherapist/Counsellor. I prefer to work with individual adults over longer term (typically 6 months or longer) but I also offer therapy over shorter 12 week periods.
My clients find me warm, insightful, informal and kind. I create a safe but challenging space for you to grow, find meaning and heal.
I am LGBTQIA+ welcoming and open to explore all experiences and issues of identity and difference.
Psychotherapy with Barbara Thorpe-Tracey
MA PGCEP MBACP UKCP
Our sessions are a place and time that are yours. They will offer you a different kind of speaking and saying, listening and hearing that you may not find anywhere else in your life. It is a true conversation, where meanings and possibilities can come to awareness. It is a space to bring your feelings, whether sadness or joy. Together in partnership, we will explore your experience in the present, and how you currently see your past and future. Through our work, you may learn how to live creatively and happily with others in an uncertain world.
The journey of our regular weekly time together, you may reveal your own answers and new questions. You may come to feel more able to welcome change and uncertainty, be more truthful in your identity and become more available to be truly present with others.
There will not be a pre-determined plan or agenda, homework or questionnaires, but rather a freedom to discover what will unfold.
Areas I work with:
I am interested in working with individual adults who may be experiencing:
- Abuse or bullying and its impact
- Anger
- Anxiety and panic
- Bereavement and Loss
- Compulsions
- Creative or performance issues
- Going through change
- Depression or low mood
- Family problems
- Feeling stuck
- Gender issues
- Intrusive and spiralling thoughts or memories
- LGBTQIA+ issues and identity
- Loneliness
- Low self-esteem and confidence problems
- Maternity, fertility, menopause and gynaecological health issues
- Questioning choices and pathways
- Redundancy, retirement and employment disputes
- Relationship and sexual difficulties
- Social anxiety
- Suicidal thoughts and self-harming behaviours
- Work relationship difficulties
Psychotherapy Training and Ethos:
I chose this profession because I found I had something to offer people through my ability to connect with compassion and a curiosity about human life. My journey towards becoming a Psychotherapist was personally intense, academically demanding and life-changing. It included undertaking my own therapy and extensive clinical experience with charities.
I trained for five years in the School of Psychotherapy and Psychology at Regent’s University, gaining an MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling (awarded with Distinction). This training immersed me in the Psychoanalytic and Humanistic/Integrative traditions before I chose to specialise in Existential Psychotherapy with its basis in philosophy, phenomenology, and ethical discourse. I have recently completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Existential Psychotherapy towards full membership of the Society for Existential Analysis. I completed my training with the award of the Postgraduate Certificate in Existential Psychotherapy. I am a Professional Member of the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA).
My first degree was in History of Art, studied at The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. My continued passion for the arts, cultural history and philosophy provides a stimulating background to my practice. I also trained as an operatic singer at The Royal Northern College of Music and love working with performers and creatives.
Having become a Psychotherapist later in life, I bring experience from my working life in a contrasting range of sectors, including the worlds of professional services firms, universities, arts organisations, healthcare trade unions, government, and events management.
I am a Full Clinical Member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). This register is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. As such I adhere to the established standards of professional practice, the Code of Ethics, requirements for continuing professional development and the complaints and conduct processes.
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and as such abide by their Ethical Framework. Please see www.bacp.co.uk/ethical-framework for more information.
Contact:
You can email me or call me to enquire about working with me.
07506 657 191
barbaratt@btinternet.com
Rates:
£70 for each 50-minute weekly session. An initial 30 minute telephone assessment consultation is free of charge.