Lisa Edmonds Counselling

I am a qualified therapeutic counsellor and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

My practice is in the heart of the historical medieval market town of Saffron Walden in North West Essex.

I offer confidential counselling for individuals and couples/relationship counselling.

I am an integrative counsellor working mainly from a psychodynamic approach but also incorporating the concepts from other approaches such as humanistic, person-centred and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Being able to blend these approaches allows me to bring different elements to the therapy to suit what you need and works best for you.

How I work
People seek counselling for many different reasons and I understand the decision to come is not always an easy one. Therefore, I ensure I provide a warm and safe environment for you to openly explore what has brought you to counselling where you will be heard, understood and accepted without the fear of being judged.

The counsellor-client relationship is an important part of the therapy and you will be valued, encouraged and supported throughout our sessions together.

To help understand more about yourself part of our work will involve exploring your past. This can help us to identify patterns of behaviour formed over the course of your life, why you cope with things in a particular way, why you feel and react the way you do and how this may be impacting your life now. Allowing you to reflect on past experiences will help you to make sense of the present.

Some of our work will include looking at your defence mechanisms and how they are working for you. These are coping strategies unconsciously put in place at times when we need to protect our own emotional well-being.
However, we can hang onto some of these defences even if they are no longer needed, they become outdated and can instead hold us back. We will work together to replace these old defences with better ways of coping which are more beneficial to your life now.

We will also look at your attachments with others and how you form relationships. Looking at the different relationships in your life, recognising the part they are playing and your role within them.

Exploring these and making sense of it all will help you to a place of deeper understanding and self-acceptance, allowing you to see other options available, enabling you the freedom to make changes and move forward.

Relationship Counselling
The aim of couple/relationship counselling is to improve communication, understand each other better enabling you to work through and resolve issues within the relationship.

Areas of Specialism – Bereavement and Loss
When someone we love dies it can be devastating. From that moment life as we know it changes and we find ourselves trying to find our way in the world without that person. It can be a scary and lonely place to be. Loss hurts.

I have significant experience working with those who have suffered a bereavement, helping them through one of the most difficult and painful times of their life. I provide a space which is safe, supportive and able to hold those painful overwhelming feelings with great care and compassion.

Loss can also be in the form of a break up of a relationship. We can grieve the loss of that relationship, the loss of the other person and the loss of what could have been.

Experience and Training
I have considerable experience of working with anxiety, relationship issues, stress related issues, perfectionism, family issues, trauma, bereavement, lack of confidence, communication issues, life-changing events and low self-esteem.
I was also an accredited bereavement volunteer with the national charity Cruse for a number of years.

Qualifications
Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
Certificate in Counselling Skills
Awareness in Bereavement Care

Courses
Couple/Relationship Counselling
Psychodynamic Theory
Humanistic Theory
Introduction to Counselling Skills

CPD
Working creatively
Working with difference and resistant clients
Eating Disorders
Self-harm and suicide ideation
A Child’s Grief
Sudden & Traumatic Death
Bereavement and Trauma
Bereaved by Suicide