Counsellor Profile
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optionalSamantha Martin – Counsellor Therapist
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Hello! I’m Samantha, an experienced, BACP registered and NCPS accredited counsellor, based in Newton Abbot.
At my Candlewood Counselling practice, I help adults who are carrying a lot – personally, professionally or both.
If you’re feeling under pressure at work, struggling with partner or family relationships, going through a change or loss in your life, or feel quietly exhausted just trying to ‘hold it all together’, you don’t have to carry the weight of this alone. I can help.
Personal Touch
I originally trained as a teacher in my early 20s, and worked in schools, then in adult education for many years. I have also worked in the charity sector, first as a volunteer and then later in a role as an adviser.
I was initially drawn to counselling after my own experience of therapy, which helped me to manage events in my life and the things I was struggling with. I discovered how powerful it is to have a safe, honest space where you can begin to make sense of what life throws at you.
This insight, and my own life experience, have shaped how I work with clients today.
Client Focus
- Low confidence and self-esteem, helping you identify and build genuine confidence. It can also support you in building a genuine sense of confidence and making decisions that align with your authentic values.
- Individual counselling for relationship problems, offering tools to improve communication and understanding, looking a patterns in behaviour and ways of thinking, and finding ways to gain what you need from your relationships.
- Anxiety and depression, providing space to explore triggers and develop coping strategies.
- Trauma, providing a safe space to process and make sense of traumatic experiences, helping reduce the impact of PTSD, anxiety, and other related symptoms. I'll also support you in developing coping strategies and reclaiming a sense of stability and inner strength.
- Stress and burnout, to explore the tools to help you feel less stressed. I can help you to explore the roots of your feelings, understand what’s happening in your body, and learn how to switch off and recover when the danger has passed.
- Life changes, grief, and loss, helping you navigate major life changes, such as illness, retirement, loss of a loved one or a relationship breakdown. I can help you to clarify priorities and manage uncertainty, supporting you in building resilience and offering practical strategies to adapt to the changes in your life.
Background
I’m a fully qualified, experienced counsellor working in private practice in Newton Abbot, serving the TQ12 and surrounding areas, and online.
I’m a registered member of the BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy)
I’m an accredited member of the the NCPS, ( National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society) and so adhere to their professional and ethical guidelines.
I’m fully insured and trained, and hold a Level 4 Advanced Diploma in Counselling.
I receive on-going clinical supervision, and regularly update my practice through CPD and additional further training.
In addition to my counselling practice I’m also an associate and course assessor for the Devon Counselling College, a role which complements my counselling work and allows me to bring my knowledge and experience to helping to train the next generation of counsellors.
The counselling journey is one of collaboration between client and therapist. Together we can work towards:
- Managing difficult thoughts and emotions
- Building confidence and self-esteem
- Working through relationship issues whether that’s at work, with family members or overcoming intimate partner abuse
- Healing from trauma or tough childhood experiences
- Learning how to better manage anxiety and stress or symptoms of depression
- Adjusting to changes or major life transitions that have impacted your sense of stability or wellbeing
- I offer counselling services in Newton Abbot to support adults of all genders, identities and from all walks of life.
- Working with clients where they are at, my practice is a welcoming and inclusive space. I have experience working with diverse clients, including neurodivergent clients and LGBTQ+ clients. If you’re feeling stuck in your life right now, counselling can provide the support you need to understand your feelings better, find clarity and move forward in a way that works for you.
Therapy Approach
Integrative counselling means I draw on a range of established counselling approaches rather than working from a single model.
This allows me to adapt the way we work together to suit you as an individual. We are all different, and what feels helpful in counselling can vary from person to person.
An integrative approach means the work is flexible and responsive, shaped around your needs, experiences, and goals.
In practice, this means we may draw on different perspectives at different times, depending on what you bring and what feels most supportive for you.
Some approaches focus on understanding emotions, others on patterns in relationships, thoughts, or past experiences. My role is to help make sense of these options with you and to work collaboratively to find what feels right.
My experience as a counsellor, working with real people, with real problems, has taught me that effective therapy begins with the foundation of our therapeutic relationship- it’s an authentic human connection, built on trust, honesty and respect for lived experience.
Like any relationship, a therapeutic relationship can take time to build.
But the pathway that creates a connection, the bridge between one person and another, is empathy.
This makes sense to me, because I believe that a healing therapeutic relationship is founded on your therapist’s ability to view the world through your eyes, to sense how it might feel for you, and then to walk beside you whilst you work through what’s troubling you.
We are all unique — shaped by our individual hopes, fears, and stories.
Yet we also share some fundamental human needs: to be heard, understood, and accepted.
A therapeutic relationship can provide the space and conditions where you can show up exactly as you are right now, and be met with curiosity, compassion and acceptance.
Therapy explained
Integrative or Holistic Therapy
Integrative or Holistic Therapy combines practices and theories from various therapeutic approaches to fit the needs of the individual client.
