My Journey
It took me a while to find my vocation. My journey to the counselling profession began whilst working as a solicitor – a job which left me feeling very unfulfilled and highly stressed. I discovered that I’d followed a career path which other people had actually mapped out for me. I was unhappy and needed a radical change in direction. At the same time, I began to notice that some aspects of my work really did interest and inspire me. I found that I was drawn to people’s stories, their motivations, their unique personalities, and I wanted to understand how circumstances, life events, and childhood experiences shape us all.
I retrained and worked in the fitness industry, as a personal trainer/instructor. This wasn’t an easy decision to make or follow through with. There were a lot of difficult responses from everyone around me. But I loved my job, because I felt more meaningfully connected to the people I worked with, and I enjoyed seeing the positive impact which exercise has. I became fascinated by the mind-body connection, and how trauma and stress can affect our emotional makeup, our physical and mental health, and our overall well-being and wellness. Our bodies hold onto past hurts, emotional pain, unresolved psychological stress and the memory of traumatic experiences. Often these manifest as dis-ease.
I now enjoy working with the healing power of nature, and my interest in the transpersonal, and spiritual philosophies also inform my work. I currently work for the charity MIND and I have enhanced DBS Certificates for working with vulnerable adults, and children and young people. I also work in health and social care and the charity sector, where I have supported people with a wide range of issues such as disability discrimination, grief, bereavement, and loss, the demands of being a full-time carer, and the experience of living with life-limiting, chronic, or critical illness. As a counsellor my experience includes working with children, young people, and adults in schools, and in an agency offering low cost counselling to families, parents, guardians, children and young people.
My work is not only informed by my professional training, but also by my mindfulness and meditation practice and my personal belief in our own inner ‘knowing’. Our ability to find self-healing, autonomy, and direction, lies within us all. Most importantly, our connection to ourselves, and to each other, is a powerfully healing thing.
We can move on from our childhood conditioning, and our unfulfilling or dysfuntional relationships, and patterns of relating and behaving. We can notice and honour what we are no longer willing to tolerate. We can begin to build relationships that actually feel good. We can open our hearts to life.
- Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling Level 4
- Counselling Studies Level 3
- Counselling Skills Level 2
- Certificate in Children and Young People's Mental Health Level 2
- Advanced Personal Trainer Diploma Level 4
- Graduate Diploma in Law, & Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice - Member of The Law Society of England and Wales (non-practicing solicitor)
- BA Law & Sociology
- BACP Competencies Training working with Children, Young People and Families
- Grassroots Suicide Awareness Training
- Introduction to Online and Telephone Working
- Working With Soul in Personal Development
- Understanding Depression and Anxiety
- Mental Health Recovery and Compassion
- Importance of Play and Assessing a Child's Place in the World
- Hoarding Awareness for Emergency Front-Line Services
- Introduction to Trauma
- Working with Eating Disorders
- LGBTQ+ Awareness
- Self-harm Awareness
- CSE Awareness
Get in touch
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how counselling works, or to arrange an initial assessment appointment. This enables us to discuss the reasons you are thinking of coming to counselling, whether it could be helpful for you, and whether I am the right counsellor to help.
You can call me or message me on WhatsApp: 07874012288.
Email enquiries at caroline@betternaturecounselling.co.uk.
I am happy to discuss any queries or questions you may have prior to arranging an initial appointment.
I will endeavour to answer your enquiry as soon as possible, and all contact is strictly confidential and uses secure phone and email services.