Individual Therapy | Kate Williams Therapy

Counselling &

Somatic Trauma Therapy

Hello and welcome to my practice.

I offer a confidential service providing you with a safe and trusting environment in which to share your concerns and to work through any problems both current and past. I can help you to work through what is holding you back from feeling happier within yourself and living a more satisfied and joyful life.

I have been a counselling since 2009 and am an accredited member of the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) which means I am bound by their code of ethics. The ethical framework can be found at www.bacp.co.uk and more information about counselling and the voluntary register, can be found at www.bacpregister.org.uk

You can email me here for more information

My approach

In my unique approach to counselling and trauma therapy, I blend, what I consider the best and most effective, modalities: sensorimotor psychotherapy, EMDR and parts work within a talking-therapy integrative framework rooted in humanistic & existential values and psychodynamic theory. This wonderful blend can get to the heart of depression, anxiety and trauma in a safe and effective way.

Body-based psychotherapy can help you feel more grounded, alive and fulfilled whilst helping you to move away from habitual patterns into a more resourceful way of living.

My approach is a strength-based approach where internal resources can be reclaimed, discovered and created via somatic interventions (including movement, breathwork, body strengthening and following the bodies wisdom) along with the use of embodied imagery, which can include the creative arts – all to increase peace, rest & restoration, strengthen boundaries and confidence in self.

I will further tailor sessions to meet specific needs where talking to gain insight & understanding may be a priority or EMDR processing of traumatic memories or parts work to free up natural energies of self-compassion for deeper internal and inner child work and early attachment ruptures.

In our individual sessions,

I can help with...

Nervous system dysregulation

Anxiety & overwhelm, self harm and OCD behaviours

Depression and dissociation

Single-event trauma and multiple shock traumas

Complex relational trauma often rooted in childhood

Sexual violation

Poor self esteem, overthinking, intrusive thoughts, problems with Boundaries

Relational conflicts and difficulties

My fee is £60 for a 50 minute session

I work online, via zoom and from my practice in Potton, Bedfordshire working with adults and teens.

EMDR Therapy

EMDR (eye movement desensitisation & reprocessing). Experiencing single traumatic events or many traumatic events can cause problems to our nervous system and we can feel depressed, anxious, we may have panic attacks, we may feel we on hyper-alert to danger, we have flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and nightmares. These can be debilitating and effect work, relationships, social and private lives and how we feel about ourselves.

EMDR works on the basis that trauma incidents aren’t stored properly in the brain so they cause triggers in the present day (like flashbacks, hypervigilance, chronic anxiety caused by certain smells, strange environments, loud noises etc) which feel like the trauma is happening now. EMDR works to reduce the distress level of the trauma and place it back on the timeline as a past event storing the memory in the correct part of the brain.

EMDR is a complete psychological therapy. It is designed in a way to support you to build up many psychological skills that support you to:

· regulate your emotions

· manage symptoms of anxiety

· build confidence

· understand how your mind and body work and how they can calm and relax

· build emotional resilience

· rescript negative beliefs

· desensitise the emotional charge so that the memory no longer triggers a difficult reaction

· reprocess the memory so that it feels as though it is in the past.

This occurs within a 3-phase trauma treatment model where we start by ensuring you are able to regulate your emotions so they no longer feel overwhelming before moving into bi-lateral stimulation work. This may include rapid eye movements or alternate tapping. The traumatic memory doesn’t need to be explained in detail and sessions will progress at a pace suitable for you.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) is a holistic therapy that integrates well into traditional talking therapies. SP believes that the body holds the innate wisdom for healing and by tuning into the body deep healing can occur.

It helps bring together body, mind and emotions.

The goals of sensorimotor psychotherapy focus on helping clients develop their own internal resources to process the trauma, transcend the prolonged flight-flight-or-freeze reaction of the autonomic nervous system, recognise and self-regulate emotions, and respond calmly and thoughtfully to their world.

Goals of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy helps people do the following:

Reclaim a sense of control over your responses to the trauma and traumatic memories and so feel more grounded, peaceful and engaged in present day

Understand the impact that your experience(s) have had on both mind and body

Develop deeper awareness of physical symptoms and sensations and how these relate to the trauma and emotional responses

Separate the past from the present so mind and body respond appropriately to what’s happening now rather than reacting from traumatic memories

Regain your power and strength

Parts Work

My background in parts work is predominately voice dialogue and more recently Somatic Internal Family Systems therapy.

Both voice dialogue an IFS offer ways to dialogue with the internal parts (energies, feelings, somatic sensations, images, sub-personalities) in order to free up your natural self-energy of compassion, calm, clarity, connection and creativity.

It works on the premise that our most vulnerable parts have been sent into exile (split off from) and that we have a team of protectors that protect from further hurt or harm.

However, these protector parts can keep our lives limited in different ways (maybe by keeping us small…or even the opposite: big and powerful) and can cause us to feel chronic grief, overwhelm, anger, anxiety and much more.

Parts work can help with anything from decision making, stuckness to healing patterns of shame.

How it works & booking information

How it works

The first session is called the assessment where I’ll ask you some questions about your current concerns, background and what you hope to gain from therapy. It’s also a chance for us to find out if we can work together and for you to get a feel for my approach.

Sessions usually takes place weekly, at the same time each week for 50 minutes. The appointment slot that you are offered will usually be your ongoing appointment slot.

I recommend clients commit for the first 6 sessions so they can start to feel the benefit of counselling; at this point we’ll have a review session. Having said this you are free to leave counselling at anytime as sometimes one or two sessions is enough.

In the first session I also talk through the working agreement which outlines confidentiality and certain legalities which are important for you to know. If we are working online I’ll send this through prior.

Please be aware that I take up to 6 weeks off over the summer and 3 weeks over the Christmas period along with regular breaks throughout the year. I’ll endeavour to provide a month’s notice of my breaks and CPD training should the latter fall on our session day.

Fees

I charge £60 per session.

Each session lasts for 50 minutes.

In person

I accept cash in the session or bank transfer 24 hrs prior to the session.

Online

I require payment 24 hours prior to each session.

Do be aware that payment is required for missed sessions unless 24 hours-notice is provided.

My prices increase annually and I’ll give you at least a month’s notice by email.

Location

Online therapy takes place over Zoom.

If we are working together via Zoom, then I will send a link out 15 mins prior to the first session. This link will then be reoccurring.

My practice is situated above Aromatics in Potton Market Square next to Potton Food Stores.

Kate Williams, Counselling in Potton

24 Market Square,

Potton,

Beds

SG19 2NP

You’ll see a sign on the door; I’m on the first floor. If you can wait in the small waiting area upstairs, I’ll come out at your appointment time to collect you.

There is free parking in the market square & a free car park nearby, down Brook End (keep going down the Road, off the Market Sq, with post office on your right).