Guest Speaker - Tuesday 9th November at 2pm

Hello all,

I am delighted to let you know that next Tuesday (9th November), my former colleague at the old Stevenson College (now Edinburgh College) and good friend, Sarah Austin, has accepted my invitation to speak to you via Zoom at the start of our normal class. She is really looking forward to connecting with you. 

She will be with us for an hour to talk about her role as a Counsellor and importantly, to field any questions you might have for her related to the world of Counselling.

A little about Sarah then, which I hope you will find helpful.

Sarah holds an Honours Degree in Psychology, with twenty-six years experience in FE teaching in Special Education, Social Care and Counselling. She has been in private practise as a Person Centred Therapist since 2005, supervising other therapists since 2013 and training Postgraduate Psychotherapy students since 2015.

Sarah works using a Person Centred approach, first developed by Carl Rogers. This approach is client-led and supports clients' natural ability to develop and change within an accepting, non-judgemental therapeutic relationship. It aims to develop as equal power dynamic as possible so the therapist is not seen as the 'expert' and does not give advice.

Food for thought:

As therapists we're continually developing our practise: at the moment, the world of counselling is changing rapidly with online therapy (eg. using Zoom) now being offered by almost all therapists as an option. This has implications for how we communicate and how we work safely but also means we can work with clients from anywhere in the world.

I am certain that we will have an excellent time with Sarah next week.

Please e mail me any questions you may have by the end of this week please (5th November), which is coincidentally Sarah's birthday and I will send them on to her before next week.

I look forward to listening to the session very much indeed.

Mark