I am a Southampton based counsellor working with couples, polycules and individuals. I have a particular passion for helping clients lessen the impact of childhood experiences on their relationships.
My skills can support you to resolve relational conflict. I can also work with you to promote healing after an affair, help make decisions about relationships and recommit to each other. Individually, I help you become highly self-aware and make sustainable changes so that you can lead the life you desire.
Dawn AM Counselling
How we work together
For our work together to be as effective as possible for creating the change you desire, our collective approach needs to be:
Curiosity based - with a childlike curiosity we will explore your behaviours, emotions, physical sensations and thoughts. We leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of increasing your self-awareness.
Challenge ready - I consider myself to be a high challenge and high support therapist. I will tailor this to your needs so you feel comfortable with me but challenge will help you move forwards. Therefore, it is important you also come ready to challenge yourself/yourselves and open to receiving my challenge. My challenge will always be delivered kindly and respectfully.
Committed - I am always 100% committed to helping you understand yourself and create change. The more committed you are to yourself, each other and your counselling work, the more effective it will be. Some of my interventions require you to do homework in between sessions - without this progress may stall or be frustratingly slow for you.
Courageous - therapy is demanding. Baring your soul to a stranger (initially) and probing into layers of hurt and resentment can feel extremely vulnerable and unsettling. I always try to pace the work to minimise distress but the process can often reveal awareness that is uncomfortable for a while.
Candid - there are often parts of ourselves or things we have done in the past that we are ashamed of and prefer to keep hidden. As you progress through therapy, you will hopefully feel increasingly comfortable with being transparent. I don’t need to know everything but if its relevant to what you want support with, it will help to share it. In turn, I will always be honest with you if something is not feeling quite right or I make a mistake.
Congenial - to balance the challenge, need for courage and candour, we remember our humanity, kindness, humour and generosity. There will be times when we soften the mood for some relief or, where there is conflict, we all focus on kindness to guide our interactions.
About me
I have a varied background including 20 years service in the Royal Navy, social enterprise management, mentoring and school governance. Most importantly to me though, at the core of those experiences, I have always felt a strong pull to help people. I have studied psychology with the Open University, health psychology at the University of Southampton and Gestalt counselling with the University of Portsmouth. More recently, I have completed training to extend my skills to working with couples.
I know first-hand how life can feel stuck, how difficult it can be to grapple with low self-esteem and how enduring the impact of difficult childhood experiences can be on all types of relationships. I have lived experience of bereavement, depression, transitioning from military to civilian life, parental estrangement, sexual identity confusion and coping with terminal illness in the family. I have also experienced conflicting shifts in identity and roles in life that can occur as I have got older.
In previous employment, I have worked with clients who had experienced domestic abuse and/or historic childhood sexual abuse. I continue to offer a safe space for clients with the same difficulties in my private practice.
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BSc Psychology
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MSc Health Psychology
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Diploma in Higher Education in Gestalt Counselling
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Level 3 Person-centred Counselling