If you are looking for some support on your journey, therapists, counsellors, coach’s or other mental health and wellbeing practitioners can really make the difference. For two of the directors here at Seen & Heard, the right coach or therapist at the right time quite literally saved our lives! But just hitting Google and hoping for the best can be a minefield. Seen & Heard have tried to take some of the pain out of it for you.
If you need help to meet the costs of seeing one of the specialists on our directory, we have a Funding Support Program that may be able to help. For more information please CLICK HERE.
We have personally contacted and connected with everyone on this list, and they have all come from recommendations, or completed specific relevant training and experience in relation to boarding and independent school clients. That being said, you should also do your own due diligence, Seen & Heard accepts no responsibility or liability, beyond making their details available, nor is this a live directory of availability, some may have waiting lists in place.
The most important factor in choosing someone to work with, is trust and relationship. Irrespective of what style and methods that professional may practice, or how many credentials they have, you’ve got to click with them. All of the these professionals will respond to your enquiry, and many will also setup calls with you to discuss how things are for you right now, what you’re looking for, and see if there is a connection. You won’t be obligated into anything just by contacting them, asking some questions, and seeing if you feel comfortable and supported by them.
Psychotherapy – There are a wide-range of different styles/modalities in psychotherapy, and some of them have very long names! But don’t be put off by this. Most include elements of talking therapy, but art, music, movement, CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy), EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) are just some of the additional tools used to support clients. If in doubt, just ask them what their approach is, and find something that you feel comfortable with. The psychotherapists on this list are passionate and knowledgeable about supporting boarding and independent school clients. Psychotherapy will typically involve looking at present issues for client, but then ultimately looking to track these issues back to source. Counselling, below, is said by many to focus more on the here and now that is coming up for people. Psychotherapy is a regulated profession by organisations such as the BACP and UKCP.
Counselling – Is often used interchangeably with the term ‘therapist’, and their similarity is they are both in the main, talk therapy focused. However Counselling often looks to cover the here and now issues/challenges arising for clients. These could be one-off issues, or those that have not had long-term effects on clients. The focus is on exploring the subject by building trust and rapport, then finding ways to support the client to understand the issue better, and put in place structures and patterns of thought to help them go about their life in a healthier way. However this is a bit of a general rule of thumb, and you should speak to your counselor to understand their personal approach. Counselling is a regulated profession by organisations such as the BACP and UKCP.
Coaching – Coaching is a non-regulated profession, and may encapsulate styles such as ‘Life Coaching’, ‘Trauma Recovery Coaching’ and ‘Transformational Coaching’. The purpose of a coach is to work with their clients to define what a healthy future-state looks like, and to better understand what’s not working for them in the present. This could be things like self-limiting beliefs, traumatic experiences, lifestyle, work and relationships. The coach will then use their chosen style/methods to guide the client through the challenging stuff, and bring them to their desired future state over time. Although coaching is unregulated, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all coaches do not hold qualifications or relevant experience. You should check that any coach you work with has insurance, holds credentials in anything they’re claiming to offer, and has the experience you feel will serve you on your journey.
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