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Hi, I'm Esther.

I'm here to listen, not judge.

I qualified as a therapist working with adults but did most of the training, continuous professional development and further studies working with children and young people.

 

My work quickly expanded into working with families or couples, the people around the children, and my studies continued to diversify into those areas.

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I quickly realised that my therapeutic approach was going to be integrative. This means that I use a mix of approaches and modalities to suit the diversity of my clients.

 

I hold qualifications in Humanistic, Gestalt and CBT therapy, including ongoing studies in Compassion Focussed Therapy and Acceptance Commitment Therapy.

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story within you"
    - Maya Angelou

​I am a qualified walk and talk therapist; I appreciate being indoors may not work well for all my clients and being outdoors in nature is equally as therapeutic.

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I am fully insured, have an enhanced DBS and attend supervision for both my private and charity practice. I also work with SEND children in a mainstream secondary school, have worked with the elderly and have written programmes for the rehabilitation of offenders.

 

I work with animals, which of course is optional!

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I am a registered member of the BACP, MCPID and a member of the BABCP. I also lecture for the CPCAB and lead ADHD and focus groups on addiction.

Esther.webp

A little about me

I have a horse, Henry, who I plod about on. I run, cycle and love the outdoors. I like turning my hand to creative projects, building shelves, garden stuff, jet washing.

 

Anything outdoors basically.

 

I wanted to start open water swimming but it was far too cold. I tend to give something my full focus, realise I am not great at it and move onto the next thing.

What is Rhino?

Rhino was the result of the realisation, finally, that square pegs were never meant to fit into a round holes.

 

My personality, my lived experience, the characteristics and traits that define me were the very thing that stopped me being successful in the prescribed, regulatory, and rigid roles I had tried so hard to be good at. It took years of work for me to understand that I was not a failure, I had just been trying to succeed at something I wasn't suited too. Rhino gave me the space to try, fail, watch, listen and learn.

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It is built around my clients, their feedback, reflective practice and my own, ongoing development.

Statue of people lifting a rhino

I have the freedom to tailor what I do to suit our needs, the risks I take are mine, equally so is the reward. I knew I wanted to be diverse in what I offered, so Rhino allows me to coach, speak motivationally, and work with projects as they come up. I knew that I was different.

 

I knew my service would be different. I know my approach to therapy is different.

 

So rather than force it to fit somewhere else, I gave it name and decided to share it as it is.

What got me into counselling?

I chose to help others soon after I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2010. Having tried unsuccessfully to manage a free-wheeling lifestyle and chaotic mind, I approached my 40s with a catalogue of moral failings behind me; broken relationships, bankruptcy, addiction, injuries, isolation, frustration and anger.

The hurt and damage that I had both caused and received, the impact and the effects of all that I had done were devastating and shortly after I started my studies, I admitted myself to rehab. I don't believe I could do what I do now, without having experienced such difficulty.

 

Those feelings of isolation, feeling like a misfit, lost and worthless, worse, a burden to those I loved. Pretending I was happy as a youngster, whilst I waded through the treacle of guilt, shame and confusion had become my new normal.

Then I found clubs, drugs and alcohol and everything got temporarily better before it all got so much worse. I decided if I could get better, I would be able to facilitate the change that would help others find a way out of their suffering. Better still, if I could prevent it from happening, I would do that too, in the hope that less was lost for them before they found themselves.

 I remain committed to this today, especially for those marginalised or vulnerable groups who don't yet know they have a choice.

Experience

2 years working with children and young people across Hampshire privately and for charity.

 

Experience of working with:

  • attachment issues

  • adverse childhood experiences

  • trauma

  • neurodiversity (and secondary/tertiary issues such as acceptance, bullying, isolation, ARFID)

  • self-harm

  • suicide

  • Creative therapy; play, walk and talk

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​Qualifications & Memberships

  • L5 Diploma

  • L5 Diploma Humanistic Gestalt CIPD People Management

  • L4 Advanced Diploma CBT

  • L3 Certificate in Counselling

  • L3 Certificate in Families and Couples Therapy

  • L3 Certificate in Play Therapy

  • L3 Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Sector

  • L2 Certificate in Mental Health

  • Registered Walk & Talk Therapist

  • Registered Tutor for Counselling Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body

  • Registered Member BACP

  • Member BABCP

Just don't feel right?

You don't have to know what's wrong. Talk to me.

  • ADHD

  • Abuse

  • Acceptance

  • Addiction

  • Affairs

  • Anger

  • Anxiety

  • Autism

  • Bereavement

  • Betrayal

  • Bullying

  • Confidence

  • Depression

  • Divorce

  • Emotional Regulation and Identification

  • Family Issues

  • Food (relationships with, ARFID)

  • Gender

  • Goals

  • Grief

  • Harassment

  • Loneliness

  • Loss

  • Marital Issues

  • Negative or Intrusive Thoughts

  • Neurodiversity

  • PTSD

  • Panic Attacks

  • Personality Disorders

  • Progression & Planning

  • Reconnection

  • Redundancy

  • Relationship Difficulties

  • Resilience

  • Self- Harm

  • Self-Esteem

  • Self-worth

  • Sexuality

  • Stress

  • Suicide

  • Trauma

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