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optionalAlison Matthews – Psychotherapist
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Are you feeling out of balance or unsure why you're struggling with anxiety, low mood, anger, or low self-esteem? You may be coping with a loss, a relationship breakdown, a traumatic experience, or finding it difficult to communicate how you're feeling. These experiences can leave you feeling alone, overwhelmed or confused - and seeking support can be an important first step.
I offer relational psychodynamic counselling, providing a gentle and thoughtful space to explore past experiences, unconscious ways of being, and relationship patterns that may be influencing your present life. Working with sensitivity and compassion, I support clients in developing greater self-awareness and insight, enabling them to make more conscious choices and find new ways forward. I work at a pace that feels right for you, offering a safe, respectful and empathic therapeutic relationship where you can begin to speak openly and feel truly heard.
Personal Touch
In our sessions, we will typically:
- Explore what has brought you to counselling
- Discuss how personal history and identity shape your emotional life
- Identify both challenges and strengths in your experiences
- Work at a pace that feels right for you
- Foster a deeper sense of connection to yourself and others
Client Focus
Background
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and work in line with their ethical framework. This means you can feel confident that our work together takes place in a safe, confidential, and supportive environment, where you are treated with respect, care, and professionalism at all times.
I trained at The Counselling Foundation and have an Advanced Certificate in Psychodynamic Clinical Skills and a Diploma In Psychodynamic Counselling.
Alongside my private practice in St Albans, I work in the charitable sector, providing both short- and long-term therapy through employer-assisted programmes and self-referral. I work with teenagers through to people later in life and offer counselling face-to-face, online and by telephone. I support clients with a wide range of difficulties, including anxiety, depression, bereavement and relationship issues.
Therapy Approach
I believe deeply in each person’s innate capacity for growth, creativity and change. Being attuned to how personal history, identity and relationships shape emotional life, I work collaboratively with clients to explore both challenges and strengths. With the opportunity to explore together what has brought you to counselling, many clients find they begin to feel lighter and less burdened, with a deeper sense of connection to themselves and others.
Therapies explained
Brief Therapy
Brief Therapy centers on specific problems and direct intervention, offering solutions within a short period.
Person-Centered Therapy
Person-Centered Therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, emphasizes a non-directive, empathetic approach that empowers and motivates the client in the therapeutic process.
Psychodynamic
Psychodynamic therapy focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person’s present behavior, with the goals of self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior.
Bereavement Counselling
Bereavement counselling supports people after a loss, helping them explore grief at their own pace, process emotions such as sadness, anger or guilt, and find ways to cope day to day while adjusting to life after loss.
Alison Matthews
she/herPsychotherapistOperate
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Availability
Pricing
I work in person, by telephone and on-line via Teams. Each session lasts 50 minutes and I charge £60 per session. You are very welcome to get in touch to explore what support might be helpful for you. I offer a free initial 20 minute call, giving you the opportunity to ask any questions and get a sense of how we might work together, before deciding whether to arrange a first session when it feels right for you.
£60
Session Fee