Dr. Sara Trayman - Counselling Psychology

• British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Counselling Psychologist (CPsychol)
• Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Registered Counselling Psychologist

I offer Private Counselling, Psychology and Psychotherapy Services for these Issues

My Counselling, Psychology and Psychotherapy Therapeutic Approaches

I am Registered with these Private Health Insurance Companies to provide Counselling, Psychology and Psychotherapy

Gender

What to Expect during Counselling, Psychology and Psychotherapy

In the first session, sometimes called an 'assessment' it is an opportunity for you to find out if the therapist you are seeing is someone with whom you feel at ease and able to trust. As a therapist I try to find out who you are and a little about your life story and what has brought you to therapy. Together, we then work together to determine if the difficulties or concerns which bring you to therapy are those that we can work on together.

It is vital in therapy that we are both clear about what you hope to gain from the sessions and I will help you to work out what this is. This way we can begin to work together to either help you to change those things which you would like to or perhaps to accept and make sense of those things you cannot change.

In my work with my clients I seek to offer them a space and time in which they may express their difficulties and explore how they make sense of themselves. I endeavour to create a space that is non-judgemental and to be fully present with my client whilst holding them in positive regard. I adopt a person-oriented approach rather than a problem-oriented approach which means although there is often a particular problem that may bring them into therapy I am open and curious about the whole person. I see their presenting issues as a communication to us both of something in their life being troubling or needing some attention.

I try to understand what the client wants me to understand about them and to hear them as they are without telling them what to think or what to feel. I will offer reflections to clients that share my experiences of them within the context of our relationship. When I offer hypotheses to them they are tentative and are simply offered to the client in order that they can confirm or refute them. This is in accordance with my belief that the client is the expert on themselves.

Many of the aspects of my therapeutic stance are clearly drawn from my person-centred core and I believe that the humanistic branch of psychotherapy is the orientation I feel most closely aligned to. For my clients I feel it is most important that they feel heard and understood and accepted for who they are and how they live their lives. I try to understand my clients from their own frame of reference rather than imposing my own frame of reference upon them or using this as a way of understanding or explaining them.

As my practice has developed my work has become increasingly integrative and I draw on several theories in addition to the person-centred and existential models. I also use cognitive-behavioural techniques with clients who see their presenting problems as the product of how they think about the world and who want to explore and challenge the assumptions that they hold. Within my brief therapy work and also in undertaking assessments I will also use solution-focused techniques such as scaling and the miracle question as a way of helping the client to construct their goals of therapy and measure their own therapeutic change.

Whichever techniques I may use with a client, the therapeutic relationship is always of paramount consideration. I often invite my clients to give feedback about their experience of being in the sessions and what they feel is helpful and unhelpful. This is in order to foster openness to exploring our relationship with each other as a way of understanding my client's relationships with others in their world.

Clinical Qualifications in Counselling, Psychology and Psychotherapy

Additional Information