About Mel
My path to becoming a counsellor started over 40 years ago when my younger brother Paul took his own life at the age of 19 years. That tragedy changed my life forever. It’s why I set up The Wolverhampton Counsellor in my home city and it’s why I believe no-one should struggle alone without hope. For me, one of the best ways of understanding, accepting and changing ourselves is in a therapeutic relationship.
Kindness defines my work as a counsellor because more than any human trait, it allows us to be completely open to each other even in a world that can feel cold, harsh and alienating. It’s the way I meet your distress, connect with you and, yes, occasionally have a laugh with you because counselling is about us experiencing ourselves as fully as possible. Even – especially – the bits we don’t like or the bits we have ‘banished’.
Before training as a person-centred counsellor at the University of Warwick, I worked as a senior manager in public relations and communications, helping big organisations relate in more human ways to their employees, customers and stakeholders. Although I became disillusioned by this work, it developed attributes I now bring to my counselling: a very cool head in a crisis and an appreciation of the far-reaching impact of work on people’s lives and self-worth.
I have worked for three counselling charities helping people hit by big life events such as bereavement, divorce or redundancy or helping people who have experienced trauma such as rape, domestic violence, forced marriage or a life-threatening illness. And I have worked with people who are struggling with their personal or work relationships. I’ve also undergone specialist training in couple counselling.
One of the consolations of age is that I’ve notched up so many life-changing experiences, in my case, marriage, parenthood, bereavement, separation, redundancy, estrangement and cancer. These experiences have left me a little battered and bruised and I can’t claim they’ve made me any wiser or smarter. For me, experience is only a source of wisdom if we take the time to process it, understand it and learn from it. Nonetheless, enduring and mostly surviving some tough times has strengthened my belief that with the help of others, we can nurture our ‘self’ to weather our personal storms and live our lives fully and authentically.
Counsellors bear witness to their clients’ experiences of poverty, injustice and inequality which is why I oppose discrimination and why I promote social justice in both my work and my community. Too often we’re told we need to ‘fix’ ourselves when what we really need to change is a toxic workplace culture, an abuse of power, an unjust society.
Ethics
I also work within the ethical guidelines of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy of which I’m a registered member. I’m also an accredited member of the National Counselling Society.
So that’s me.
If you have questions about my work or experience, don’t hesitate to ask. Email me at [email protected] or call 07799761825. I think you’ll find me warm and approachable.
*I am trained in person-centred counselling, a therapy first developed by one of the great psychologists of the 20th century, Carl Rogers. He believed that given the right conditions, people can reach their full potential and become their true self. Find out more about person-centred counselling here..
