Mike - Keystone Counselling

Hello, dear prospective client, my name is Mike.

I have a long background in contemplative practice and was formerly a Tibetan Buddhist monk. I have also run a sports massage therapy practice, which has given me a strong interest in the relationship between body and mind.

In my work as a counsellor, I try to demystify counselling and keep the work practical, collaborative, and grounded.
I check in with my clients regularly to see if how we are working is helpful for them.

I’m a Pluralistic counsellor, which means that we draw on many different elements of psychology in our work together. The Pluralistic approach fosters collaboration and empathy within our relationship and continually encourages me to empower you.

What matters most to me is that we co-create tools that are genuinely useful in your daily life.

In my work with autistic clients, a central focus is developing a clear, usable language for inner experience.
For many autistic people, words like feeling or emotion can be vague, loaded, or unhelpful.
Instead, we often work with a more precise language of experience: what is happening in your body, your mind, and your system, moment to moment. We co-create a language for your experience.
Much of our work is about learning to notice, name, and understand these experiences, so that you can make clearer choices. This might mean setting boundaries, moving closer or further away, saying yes, or saying no.

This process also includes developing ways to regulate your nervous system, to respect your limits, and to protect yourself from social expectations that often misunderstand or oversimplify autistic difference.

With late-diagnosed adults, the work sometimes includes making sense of the past, relationships with parents, earlier ideas about the self, and gently building a more accurate and compassionate understanding going forward.
I will empower you to decide how we work and what you’d like to achieve.

Ultimately, I think the work is about understanding yourself and learning to be kind to yourself. This experience of kindness lowers stress and usually facilitates better choices.