Kim Mitchell

I am a qualified and experienced counsellor offering a calm and confidential setting to meet the challenges you may be facing in life. Whether you need a space to share your current situation or to process a past experience, I offer a therapeutic relationship of acceptance and compassion. 

Sometimes we feel stuck or distressed. It can be hard to find a way through such challenges alone. What I offer is a collaboration in working though those difficulties. Together, we can identify what your goal is for therapy, and explore your options so you can make choices that suit you as an individual, and begin to build helpful coping strategies for your future. I offer short and long-term therapeutic work.

Since qualifying in 2008, I have worked in both voluntary and charitable sectors and within the NHS. I am accredited with the BACP, and work as an integrative counsellor (BSc Hons) meaning, I draw on multiple, different therapeutic approaches adapting how I work to what suits you best. I am also trained in EMDR therapy and work as a Family Systemic Practitioner, so I have specialist skills in dealing with Trauma and complex family relationships. For several years I have delivered an annual input to training level 4 diploma counselling students on the subject of racialised trauma and am able to offer clients a pathway to heal from this traumatic experience(s). I also have several years experience of working with and delivering workshops to family members who support a loved one with addiction. 

While I am an integrative counsellor, I am particularly focused on a person centered and compassion- focused approach. Compassion-focused therapy acknowledges that we all suffer due to evolution and life experiences, and that we develop safety strategies that are not always helpful to us in our day to day lives. Once we are able to stop criticising and blaming ourselves for the symptoms, thoughts and feelings associated with these unhelpful strategies, we can begin to develop self-compassion. 

In a more compassionate frame of mind, we can begin to develop ways to cope. For some clients, I also offer Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR), an evidence-based therapy developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. It is now used to treat a wide range f mental health issues, helping to identify, process and desensitise challenging memories. I also integrate the use of genograms for those clients that wish to explore patterns within their history that they may wish to change if unhelpful or strengthen if positive.