
“Our lives are shaped by forces
we are totally unaware of”
Darian Leader

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Individual (One-to-One) Counselling and Therapy, Alsager, Cheshire
I offer one-to-one counselling and psychotherapy sessions for adults and young people, working through issues in a confidential, nurturing environment. Sessions last 50 minutes and I usually see clients once or twice a week for a given period. I am based in Cheshire, working from Alsager (East Cheshire, Junction 16 of the M6), although my client base geographically includes North Staffordshire, the Peak District and beyond.
To date I have helped individual clients in both short- and long-term therapy, dealing with issues ranging from anxiety and panic attacks through chronic eating disorders, phobias and relationship problems to bereavement, post-traumatic stress disorder and abuse.
My therapeutic approach is integrative, which means that I borrow freely from various schools of thought to use the techniques that will work best for each client. These include psychodynamic and transpersonal therapy and CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) as well as less mainstream creative techniques including bibliotherapy and eco-therapy in cases where they can be helpful for the client. I have also trained in animal-assisted therapy (AAT) which can be very effective in some instances.
For more information about individual therapy or to make an appointment, please contact me at jcsmith@therapy-cheshire.co.uk or call me on 07811 981645.

Very good facilitation – encouraging and warm.
In the run-up to next week’s much-awaited publication of DSM-5 (the fifth edition of the American Psychological Association‘s hugely influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), there has been a bit of a rumpus.
The British Psychological Society‘s Division of Clinical Psychology is calling for a “paradigm shift” in how mental health issues are understood, pointing to assumptions about biological causes of mental ill health as unhelpful and suggesting instead that a wider approach be taken that also looks at social and psychological environments.
The New York Times, meanwhile, claims that practising mental health professionals won’t be paying much attention to the latest edition of the diagnostic bible, with Sally Satel arguing instead that the DSM‘s influence lies much more particularly in the fields of health insurance and access to specialist educational services and disability benefits.
In some ways, new diagnosis guidelines in the DSM are heralded in much the same way as new slang terms making it into the Oxford English Dictionary, provoking debate and sometimes outrage. It’s also a zeitgeist-watching tool par excellence; back in 1973, ‘homosexuality’ as a disorder was finally removed from the DSM, for example. DSM-5, in turn, replaces ‘gender identity disorder’ with ‘gender dysphoria’, in an attempt to destigmatize those who believe they were born into the wrong physical gender.
In the UK, the World Health Organisation‘s ICD (International Classification of Diseases) manual is officially used in mental health diagnosis instead of the DSM, so other than the usual ‘transatlantic influence’ route, we are not directly affected, strictly speaking. But the arrival of the fifth edition of DSM, a decade and a half in the making, gives us good cause to think twice about diagnosis in mental health. For some patients / clients, diagnosis of a recognised condition can offer untold relief, as described publicly by both Stephen Fry and Paddy Considine (see my related blog post) in recent years. For others, however, a ‘label’ can be a very negative thing, seriously affecting both self-identity and the way people are seen by their friends, families, colleagues and bosses – as well as by medical professionals, sadly.
In yesterday’s Observer, clinical psychologist Oliver James raises serious concerns about using genetic or neurological markers to identify mental ill health, arguing instead that early childhood experiences plus problems in adulthood are the major contributors to mental distress. In particular, he singles out psychosis, writing that “it is becoming apparent that abuse is the major cause of psychoses” [my italics].
In psychotherapy, we are trained to work with the person and his or her history, circumstances and environment rather than with diagnoses. Further than that, I have often asked clients during their initial consultation to talk about themselves rather than their supposed conditions or whatever other medical professionals might have labelled them. It’s been surprising to what extent this has brought immediate relief as well as a willingness to work hard in therapy to determine causes, behaviours and contributing factors – which are always complex and multi-faceted.
DSM-5 notwithstanding, discussion around diagnosis among mental health practitioners of all persuasions is very welcome, and it’s reassuring to see colleagues from psychology and psychiatry sticking their heads above the parapet to question the long-established authority of diagnoses, the effects of diagnosis upon patients, and within all this, the medical model itself.
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Urgent Assistance
If you need urgent assistance around mental health issues, please refer to the following services:
The Samaritans – tel: 08457 909090 (24 hours), e-mail:jo@samaritans.org. You can also visit your local branch – see www.samaritans.org for your nearest Samaritans centre.
Mind – tel: 0300 123 3393, e-mail: info@mind.org.uk. Mind’s website at www.mind.org.uk also has some very good at-a-glance facts on mental health issues including depression and anxiety, and what to do if you’re worried about yourself or someone close to you.
Rape Crisis – tel: 0808 802 9999 (Freephone, lines open midday to 2:30pm and 7pm to 9:30pm); if you would like to speak to someone in person and in confidence about rape or sexual abuse, you can find your local branch of Rape Crisis at www.rapecentre.org.uk.
National Domestic Violence Freephone Helpline run by Women’s Aid and Refuge– tel: 0808 2000 247, website www.womensaid.org.uk.
Note: If you need to cover your tracks on the Internet at home or at work having visited certain websites to look for help, please carefully read the important advice courtesy of Women’s Aid online at www.womensaid.org.uk/page.asp?section=00010001000800010001.
Cruse Bereavement Care – tel: 0844 477 9400 (daytimes only), e-mail: helpline@cruse.org.uk, website www.cruse.org.uk.
Mandown – a site with lots of information for men who are struggling to cope, or family / friends who are worried about them – www.mandown.co.
Therapy for Children and Young People
My therapy work is with adults and teenagers only.
If you are looking for a therapist to work with your child or a young person under 15, please visit www.childpsychotherapy.org.uk which has a list of accredited practitioners.
For play therapy I can recommend Rachael Gotham at Cheshire Play Therapy, tel: 07891 354716, e-mail: cheshireplaytherapy@sky.com, website www.cheshireplaytherapy.co.uk.
Male Therapists
If you specifically require a male therapist please contact me as I can recommend male colleagues.
