Mark Thresh Counselling Practice

I obtained my Diploma in Humanistic Counselling over 10 years ago and have either been employed full time in a counselling practice or in private practice ever since. Prior to this I worked for over 10 years within the criminal justice system, working with homeless offenders offering support and guidance to individuals wanting to make positive life style changes. It was whilst working in this field, I gained an interest in crimianl psycology and counselling and so embarked on a 5 year course studying psycology and Counselling….qualifying in 2002.

On qualifying I was offered a full time Counselling position with the Worcestershire Community Alcohol Team. Within a short period of time I was managing the criminal justice service, liaising with the Probation officers and working with their clients who, had offended under the influence of alcohol and were given a court order to address their alcohol consumption.

I have worked within the addiction field for the past 13 years and the last two years in private practice working with clients and helping them address many differents issue other than addictions, such as Depression, Anxiety, Low Self Esteem, Sexual problems, Work Related issues and so on.

For the past year I have been working as an affiliate Counsellor for an Employee Assistance Programme, where I have helped many clients address their problems and return to work successfully.

In December 2014 I began working in partnership with an LGBT Network offering Counselling and support to people presenting with varied issues relating to their sexuality and otherwise.

My work is regulated by the British Association for Counselling and Psycotherapy, I work within their ethical framework and I am fully insured.

My details can be found on www.bacp.com on Find a Therapist.

A BIT OF INFO ON THE COUNSELLING APPROACH I USE:

Humanistic Counselling……. recognises the uniqueness of every individual and assumes that everyone has an innate capacity to grow emotionally and psychologically towards the goals of self-actualisation and personal fulfilment, given the right conditions.

As a practicing Humanistic counsellor, I believe that it is not the events in your life that cause you problems, but how you view and therefore experience those events.

So, how we experience life events will have an impact on how we feel about ourselves and in turn, influence our self-esteem and confidence.
I will work with you in a way that you will feel encouraged to learn to understand how your negative responses to your life events can lead to psychological discomfort.

My aim will be to help you explore your own thoughts and feelings and for you to work out your own solutions to your problems.

Psychologist Carl Rogers developed one of the most commonly used humanistic therapies, Client-Centred Counselling or Person Centred Counselling, which encourages the client to concentrate on how they feel at the present moment.

Client-Centred Counselling:The central belief is that we all have inherent resources that enable us to deal with whatever life brings.

As a Client-centred therapist I will focus on my belief that you – and not myself – are the best expert on your own thoughts, feelings, experiences and problems and therefore it is you who is most capable of finding the right solutions for you!
I will not suggest any particular course of action for you to take, make any recommendations, ask probing questions or try to interpret anything you may say. The responsibility for working out your problems will rest wholly with you.
My aim will be to reflect and clarify what you bring into the session.

As a trained client-centred counsellor my aim is to show empathy, warmth and genuineness, which will help develop the right conditions and enable you to gain self-understanding and psychological growth.

These are commonly referred to as Roger’s Core Conditions,

Empathy involves being able to understand the client’s issues from their own frame of reference. The counsellor should be able to accurately reflect this understanding back to the client.
Warmth is to show the client that they are valued, regardless of anything that happens during the counselling session. The counsellor must be non-judgmental, accepting whatever the client says or does, without imposing evaluations.
Genuineness (sometimes termed congruence) refers to the counsellor’s ability to be open and honest and not to act in a superior manner or hide behind a ‘professional’ facade.