Ellen Sharrocks Counselling Leicester

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BACP Accredited Counsellor in Central Leicester

Helping you with your emotional and relational problems by providing individual or couples counselling

"Thank you Ellen, it truly has made a difference."

I am a BACP accredited counsellor/psychotherapist helping people with their emotional and relational problems. I provide individual and couples counselling in my Leicester city based practice as well as online.  I am a therapist of more than 10 years' experience and I can help you with a your mental health and wellbeing.  Examples of the struggles people come to me about include (amongst others):

  • Anxiety and fear
  • Depression
  • Bereavement
  • Low self-esteem
  • Marriage and other relationship issues
  • Trauma
  • Mental health concerns
  • Loneliness
  • Sadness
  • The impacts of a childhood spent in a boarding school

    Therapy helps with all of these - and more.  It can feel overwhelming when you are struggling with emotional difficulties.  However, you don’t have to ‘just put up with it’, ‘pull yourself together’ or ‘stay strong’.  Most people find that these things can help in the short-term, but not in the long-term.  Although talking to family and friends can help, sometimes it’s not enough.  Time – the great healer – doesn’t always do its job!  Self-help books are often helpful – but have you found that although they make sense, somehow they just aren’t enough?  Where these things fail, talking to an experienced, BACP counsellor in a comfortable, confidential environment can help.

    Counselling - A Talking Therapy
    Counselling is a ‘talking therapy’. There are many different types and styles of therapy so I thought I’d give you a quick overview of how I work.

    I provide a supportive, confidential environment either in my Leicester counselling practice or online. My core training and way of working is in psychodynamic therapy (although I do incorporate other models of counselling where relevant). Essentially, this means that together we explore your experiences, both now and in your past, including the emotional impacts. Through this therapeutic exploration, my aim as your counsellor is to help you release emotional 'baggage', make sense of what is going on for you and learn what works - and doesn't work - for you. Ultimately this can help with building your sense of self-esteem and resilience, with the many benefits that can come about through improved confidence, self-worth and generally feeling good.

    Similarly, with relationship counselling, we explore how you relate as a couple and your experiences of relationships in the past. By exploring, you can uncover the models of relating you both work to, your differences and pain points. You can learn how to communicate with each other as a couple so that you can navigate your differences and create a relationship that works for you.

    Therapy Enables Change

    Counselling is a process of exploration.  A therapeutic exploration of your experiences, emotions, thoughts and behaviours.  As your past experiences influence your present, we also explore your past to see if there are any links to the present.  We work through these experiences to enable you to process any 'held onto' and unprocessed emotions and give you an understanding in the here and now of how your past has affected your present.

    The counselling exploration, processing and working through enables you to bring about change in yourself.  This change might take many different forms.  Change in your relationship with yourself, with others, your self-esteem and confidence.  Change in your ability to enjoy life’s pleasures and tackle life’s difficulties.

The First Counselling Session

The first session, an initial consultation, is all about getting a feel for whether working today in a therapeutic way is the best way forward for you.  I will be asking, amongst other things, about what brings you to counselling.  I will want to find out about your life at the moment as well as your life in the past.  This way I can learn about you, what the problem is that brings you to therapy and a little about your background.  In this way I can start to consider whether past events or relationships might have a bearing on your present difficulties.

At the same time that I am learning about you, you will be starting to get a feel for what working with me will be like.  You may feel nervous at first, and perhaps a little uncomfortable talking about yourself to a complete stranger.  However, the therapeutic relationship going forward will be important, so you will be assessing how likely it is you will feel comfortable working with me going foward.

My Counselling Practice Business Hours

I offer both daytime and early evening appointments (for those who need an after work session) from my comfortable Leicester city centre counselling room. My business hours are:
Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 11am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 12.30pm
Thursday 11am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 5pm


Counselling Through Your Health Insurance

I am a registered therapist with both AXA and Aviva health insurers. You can access counselling through them if you have the relevant health insurance. Please contact your insurer first to obtain the necessary authorisation and we can take it from there. 

Counselling Fees
For the initial consultation I charge £25. This meeting, which can be up to 50 minutes, gives us an opportunity to explore whether counselling may be helpful to you at this point in time.  After this initial meeting, counselling sessions are held weekly, with each session lasting 50 minutes. Individual counselling fees are £50 per session and for couples/relationship counselling, £60 per session.  I usually take payment by bank transfer before the start of a session. However, if you would prefer to pay by cash or cheque, just let me know.

Counsellor in Leicester City Centre
I provide face-to-face counselling at my practice in Rutland House, a beautiful listed building on Friar Lane. Near the centre of the old town, it is accessible by public transport and with nearby car parking. This makes my therapy practice easily accessible for anyone living or working in central Leicester, the surrounding areas and Leicestershire as a whole. Car parking details can be found at Next Steps.

Please be aware that, because of the listed nature of the building, there is no lift and access to my therapy room is by the stairs. If access is a problem, then we can always arrange to meet for therapy online.

I look forward to meeting with you to understand how we can work together to make life's journey less difficult to navigate.

Online Counselling
For some people, online counselling is the better option. For example, if you are unable to manage stairs, have health issues that make travelling into the city difficult, or live outside of Leicestershire. For those of you who would prefer online counselling rather than in-person, then I am happy to accommodate this. When you enquire, just let me know that this is your preference and we can take it from there.

Counselling & Psychotherapy Trainees
For those of you who are counselling/psychotherapy trainees, I am BACP accredited and my core training was in contemporary psychodynamic counselling.  In common with many practioners, I do, however, incorporate other models of thinking into my practice.

“When your back is to the wall and you are facing fear head on, the only way is forward and through it.” - Stephen Richards

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