Martin Read, BACP Therapist - Registered Member MBACP #394175

I am credentialed in the United Kingdom with 4 years of professional work experience and am a registered member with The British Association For Counselling And Psychotherapy (BACP) which helps to ensure that I work ethically and safely. I have experience in helping clients with stress, anxiety, anger management, motivation, self-esteem, & confidence. I also have experience working with depression.

My main approach is to use a modality known as Person Centred Therapy. This means that I will aim to work with you in a safe, non-judgemental environment. It also means that I consider there is no bigger expert on your life than you yourself and that my role is to use my training and experience to be led by you and work closely with you to experience your feelings and emotions from your perspective. In my experience, many people come into counselling expecting to be guided by “an expert” in what they need to do to make their lives better. I consider my expertise to be, not in telling you what I think you need to do, but to support you in getting a clearer picture of who you really are, the things you value in life and how you can incorporate these values to help you move towards living the type of life that you would like to live. I have learnt from experience that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution as we are all individuals with our own life experiences and beliefs.

I also integrate elements from modalities such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Inner Child Therapy and Mindfulness into my work. I have found that this helps me tailor an approach more suited to your specific needs.

I appreciate that attending counselling can be a daunting prospect for a lot of people but as your counsellor I will be looking to provide a supportive, judgement free space where you can feel comfortable sharing your thoughts, feelings, emotions, hopes and fears.

I also understand that a key factor in how successful counselling is for yourself is the feeling of finding a counsellor that you can relate to. While my aim will always be to provide the type of environment where we can develop a close working relationship, I appreciate that, for a number of reasons, after we have begun to work together you might feel that I am not the right counsellor for you. With this in mind I will aim to make you feel comfortable in expressing this opinion, should it occur, and support you in looking for a new counsellor if you feel that is in your best interests.

I am available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and aim to check my account at least once a day (Monday-Friday) to ensure that I contact you within 24 hours should you get in touch with me.