Claire Ashburner  

MBACP, Counsellor and Cognitive Behaviour Therapist (CBT)

My name is Claire and I am a BACP registered Integrative Counsellor and a qualified Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT). I work with adults, young people and couples on an open-ended basis or for an agreed time period.

Whether you are looking for some short term support, or if you would like to explore at a deeper level over a longer period of time, I offer a warm, non-judgemental and confidential space for you to talk about your feelings, and together we can look at the areas that are causing you emotional distress. These feelings have a habit of staying at the front of our mind and can get in the way of everyday life because our issues, and how we are responding to them, filter into home life, work life and our relationships. Unravelling layers that have built up, possibly over a long period of time, allows you to develop a clearer view of why you have been feeling this way, and help you recognise and understand your patterns, therefore having a greater awareness of yourself, and learning that you can make different choices that are more right for you.

How I work

Integrative Therapy 

Integrative Therapy means I have a broad range of understanding of psychotherapeutic theories and models which allows me to draw from whatever best fits the individual client I am sitting with.  It helps me to gain a good understanding of you, your patterns and your ways of relating and involves looking at your history.  This in turn helps you to make links from your past and how this has shaped you, giving you the new awareness to make different choices and decisions in your present. However hard we try, our difficult feelings and insecurities will creep into other areas of our lives; our relationships, our work performance, how anxious we may feel, how angry or short-fused we are, and how much value we see in ourselves, probably leaving us with low self-esteem and affecting our confidence. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is about learning skills and tools to help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and the way you behave. It helps you manage your problems in a more positive way by encouraging you to look at how your actions can affect how you think (cognitive) and feel, react and respond (behaviour). CBT is a therapy that has a great deal of research evidence showing how effectively it works and it is especially useful in the treatment of depression, anxiety related disorders, anger issues and self esteem.

The number of sessions that you may need depends on what you need help with, so anything between 6 and 20 sessions is usual. It is advisable to have weekly sessions which are collaborative in the way they work (ie, both myself and you taking an active part), and are mostly present focussed rather than looking at getting help with difficulties and issues in your past, (but as a note, we are made up of our past and therefore it is inevitable, but not vital, that we visit some areas of your past). The techniques you learn in your therapy are tools that you can use in your daily life after therapy has come to an end.

Mindfulness

Today it is not uncommon to be caught up with what is behind us (our past) and preoccupied with what is in front of us (our future) which is necessary to some extent, but when we realise we have lost the art of being in the 'here and now' moment of the present it is a huge light bulb moment. Reacquainting ourselves with the ability to do so is the kindest and healthiest thing we can do, and essential for the platform we need in order to make different choices or make positive change. Mindfulness is an intervention that works well with any therapy model and if this interests you, or if you feel you could benefit, then I can begin by helping you to understand how to introduce mindfulness into your life. 

My firm belief is that each one of us has a way of knowing what our needs are and my role is to empower and enable you to discover your own way forward and learn to trust and rely on your own instincts.  The aim being to live in a more authentic and fulfilling way.