counselling for loss, bereavement and change
ABOUT
"Everyone keeps telling me that time heals all wounds, but no one can tell me what I'm supposed to do right now. Right now, I can't sleep. It's right now that I can't eat. Right now I still hear his voice and sense his presence even though I know he's not here. Right now all I seem to do is cry. I know all about time and wounds healing, but even if I had all the time in the world, I still don't know what to do with all this hurt right now."
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Nina Guilbeau, Too Many Sisters
If struggles with bereavement have brought you here, please know that counselling is here to help you.
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Grief feels unsafe, disturbing, unpredictable. Perhaps you're wondering how can you get through this?
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When grieving, we're often left alone to, well, just get on with it. Not easy to do when we have to keep it bottled up inside.
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When your life feels shattered, having a supportive, safe space that is there entirely for you to explore what has happened 'from the inside' can hugely help you on your way.
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Once in counselling, you’re no longer on your own with it.
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You'll have space to be heard and understood, away from the daily world.
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We'll untangle the loss so you can start to see how to move forward with your life.
You’ll gain a firmer footing in your life, a sense of inner support, a place from where you can build what you need for a more hopeful life. ​
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I have included more information about this on my FAQs page ‘What is your approach to counselling, what is a session like?’
I’m Melanie, a therapeutic counsellor experienced in, and committed to, working with grief, loss and bereavement. My commitment to this work is rooted in experiences of loss and bereavement - both my own and of those around me. My earliest losses had a profound effect on me; I think that I thought that when I was grown up I'd know, somehow, how to 'do this', nobody ever said otherwise. Needless to say, it didn't happen this way. What eventually brought me to counselling was a sense that this was something ‘too big’ and too ‘unwelcome’ to fit into day-to-day life, something more was needed. What I received and experienced in counselling was the space to explore the part loss has played in my life and find my own way forward with that. It changed the course of my life. The importance of it to my understanding of this deeply human experience was what led me into counselling training. To me, it is profoundly necessary.
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I hold a level 5 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and a post-qualifying certificate in focusing skills from the British Focusing Assoc. to assist in deepening my work with you.
I have also volunteered as a one-to-one bereavement worker with Cruse for several years. I'm an accredited member of the UK practitioner register of the NCPS, (National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society).
