Alison Smith, counselling and careers-focused counselling

*At present, I have availability for short-term careers-focused counselling only.*
Hello, and thank you for your interest in my services. I am a therapist who was late diagnosed with autism at the age of 45, and I have now also self-diagnosed with ADHD. Though I live in Essex, my therapy sessions are online via Zoom and I work with adults over the age of 18.
I offer two types of therapy: open-ended therapy, where counselling takes as long as the client wishes, and short-term work (up to 12 sessions) for clients who wish to focus specifically on careers and the workplace. My own difficult experiences in the world of work, combined with my professional experience with clients, has led me to devise a short-term programme of careers counselling to help neurodivergent people struggling to navigate this area of their lives. If you need help to identify a workplace you can thrive in, if you have been bullied, sacked, misunderstood or have mental health difficulties as a result of being at work, if you want to find out how you can be in work in a way that is sustainable for you, then my specialist interest in this area could help you.
I respect each client’s individuality and always work to help you become more fully you. I recognise where an inauthentic self may have formed as a result of needing to mask who you are in order to survive in your relationships, families or society. Before my autism diagnosis, my initial specialism was grief and loss, and I spent 18 months working in a hospice setting. I therefore have an insight into how loss can affect our life course in obvious and not so obvious ways. In addition, I have helped clients experiencing post-traumatic stress or PTSD, anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, attachment issues and emotionally abusive relationships, including with their parents or partner. I have experience of working with the loved ones of autistic people and can help work towards improving communication and the quality of relationships.
I qualified in person-centred therapy but I am what is known as an ‘integrative’ practitioner. This means that I have learned to use other counselling theories and have settled on my own approach that blends them all together in the way I find most effective for the clients that I work with, taking into account the individual client and their specific vulnerabilities. I can therefore incorporate attachment theory, CBT, transactional analysis and inner child work into what I offer my clients. I focus on you, your values, frame of reference and the meaning you seek in your life. Please contact me to find out more or to see if I have availability.