“My life has transformed since starting counselling with Abby. I was so anxious when I first asked for help, and now, I enjoy life and feel so much more confident.”
Discover Your Path to Improved Wellbeing with My Person Centred Counselling & Coaching Services in Bristol
Hi, I’m Abby Atkinson-Smith, a Person Centred Counsellor and Positive Mental Health Coach based in South Bristol, UK! I am so pleased you found your way to my website. I hope I can help!
Whether you are exploring new ways to nurture your mental health or seeking an empathic and understanding listening ear, I am here to walk with you on your counselling or coaching journey.
Contact Me
Interested in working with me? Fill out this form and I will be in touch within just a few days.
How I work…
Free Consultation
To help you to make the right decision for you, I offer a 15-minute consultation, completely free of charge. This no-obligation Zoom meeting or phone call (your choice!) provides a chance for us to get to know one another a little better, and if I am not the right fit, an opportunity for me to offer bespoke guidance on what other routes might suit you better.
If you decide to work with me, I can work both online or from my therapy room in South Bristol (BS13).
Counselling Service
Discover a compassionate space where you can explore your thoughts and feelings with empathic, understanding, and non-judgemental guidance and support. As a qualified Humanistic Integrative and Person Centred counsellor and psychotherapist, I am here to help you find clarity and peace on your journey to improved wellbeing.
Coaching Service
Using my 10 years experience as a Positive Mental Health Coach, I can support you to set and achieve goals with clarity.
Coaching can be a great way to build on progress made in counselling. It is also great for individuals who would like to make some life changes to help them to feel happier, but aren’t quite sure how or where to start!
Who
am I?
Whilst I am a qualified counsellor and coach, I am also a human being, just like you.
My journey to becoming a counsellor started after I found my way out of a very dark and lonely place. By building the courage to ask for help, and by using a combination of therapy and coaching, I was able to rediscover myself, uncovering what it felt like to live peacefully and without anxiety.
Years later, I decided I wanted to help others to feel happy, at peace, and to overcome whatever barriers may be in their way, too.
Whether you are coming to me wishing to heal wounds from a recent or historic trauma, make positive life changes, grieve a loss, feel more confident, explore who you are, build your self-esteem, feel happier, or just be heard, I can help.
I see you. I am here.
What is Person Centred Counselling?
Person centred counselling, developed by Carl Rogers, is a therapeutic approach that places you at the centre of the counselling process. It is based on the belief that every person has an innate ability to grow and resolve their own issues in a supportive environment. This approach is grounded in the core conditions of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence.
Therefore, as a person centred counsellor, I aim to provide a trusting, empathetic, and authentic space where you can explore your feelings, thoughts, and experiences.
By fostering a trusting and respectful relationship, person centred counselling can help you to feel understood, accepted, and empowered to make positive changes in your life. With that in mind, the focus in our sessions is on the present moment and your subjective experience, rather than on diagnosis or pathology.
This holistic approach encourages self-awareness, self-acceptance, and personal growth, allowing you to develop a deeper understanding of yourself and your wonderful potential.
“When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening.”
Carl Rogers, founder of the Person Centred Counselling approach
What is Positive Mental Health Coaching?
Positive mental health coaching is a proactive, strengths-based approach aimed at improving your mental well-being and overall life satisfaction. The coaching process encourages self-awareness, emotional resilience, and the cultivation of healthy habits that support mental health, such as stress-management, mindfulness, and self-care.
Unlike traditional therapy, which often focuses on resolving past issues, mental health coaching is focused on enhancing present and future well-being.
As your coach, I will work collaboratively with you to identify your strengths, set achievable goals, and develop strategies to maintain a positive mindset.
By empowering you to recognise your fantastic potential, positive mental health coaching with me also fosters confidence and self-efficacy. My work is rooted in the belief that you can create meaningful change in your life by adopting a positive outlook and actively working towards personal growth.
This approach is suitable for anyone looking to enhance their mental well-being, whether you are facing challenges or simply seeking to improve your overall quality of life.
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”
FAQs
To understand more about how I work, how I can help, and what sessions with me might look like, I have added some information below to help you on your journey to finding a new counsellor. I hope this is helpful!
I appreciate that choosing a counsellor can be tricky and confusing, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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I charge £59.50 per 1-hour session. This is the same for both my counselling and coaching services. I also offer block booking and concessionary rates. If you wish to know more, please enquire about this when you fill in my contact form.
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Firstly, fill in my contact form and I will get in touch to book in your free 15-minute consultation. If you still wish to work with me following this informal chat, sessions can be booked weekly into a mutually convenient regular time slot. I will also share more about my T&Cs before we start any work together.
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I work Monday to Thursday between 10am and 7pm, however, I will only be able to offer the slots that are not booked by current clients. This regularly changes, so we can talk more about this in our free consultation.
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Yes, in fact most of my clients opt for Zoom sessions. I offer block booking discounts for online sessions. We can talk more about this if you get in touch.
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Yes, absolutely. There are some limits to this, of course, but I talk through this in detail when we look at my counselling contract. In fact, this is an area I am always very open and transparent with my clients about.
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As a Person Centred Counsellor, I will offer you a warm, compassionate, and supportive space for you to explore and process whatever is on your mind, or any issues or hurdles you wish to overcome.
For example, you might come to me wanting to manage or heal from anxiety, depression, compulsive or intrusive thoughts, or any other mental health issue. Or, perhaps you are experiencing or have experienced a loss, recent or historic trauma, relationship challenges, or are grappling with parts of your identity, new information, or a diagnosis like ADHD, Autism, OCD, or Chronic Fatigue.
I believe that by building a counselling relationship based on trust, empathy, honesty, and understanding, together we can help you get back in touch with who you are and the wisdom you have within you. I may offer some advice, if you want it, but much of my work is about you figuring out what you think, how you feel, and what to do with any newfound understandings and self-discoveries.
Whatever you are facing right now. I am here, I see you, and I will be there for you as you work towards your counselling goals.
If you have any questions, pop me a message.
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I always offer a free, no-obligation 15-minute phone or online video call before we start (whatever you are most comfortable with!). It is a great opportunity for you to get to know me and how I work, and if you want to, a chance for you to share a little more with me about why you're interested in counselling.
Please don't worry, I will never ask you to make any decisions regarding working with me on that call. In fact, I will encourage you to take as long as you need to think about whether I am the right person for you. If I am not the right fit, I am more than happy to offer guidance on what other routes may be helpful for you. I am also part of a wonderful network of counsellors, so I may be able to recommend someone who might be a better fit. All you would need to do is ask.
If you do wish to work with me, we can then book in your first session! This booking day/time will generally be the slot you have with me for the duration we work together, though if you ever need to change or swap, I will always do my best to accommodate. I will then send you an email with the link to join our online sessions or the address of my therapy room (depending on which option you choose), along with an invoice requesting advance payment (at least 48 hours before our booking), my T&Cs, and anything else I think could be helpful for you to know. You are welcome to ask any questions you have at any point in this process - I will always try to be prompt when getting back to you.
If you would like to book your free chat in, pop me a message now.
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The first session is generally a little different to ongoing sessions. To start with, we will spend some time going through a ‘Counselling Contract’. This is a document outlining how I work and what you can expect from me. We will then discuss what your hopes are for counselling, and if you would like to, set some goals and a rough date of when you might like to review those goals and how the sessions are going. I generally suggest doing that every 4–6-weeks anyway, but I will always fit around you and your wishes.
Any time remaining can then be spent starting the counselling work together. Many clients start by telling me more of their story, or giving me more background about why they are in counselling, but there is no right or wrong way to ‘do’ counselling. As long as the session feels helpful and you feel supported, that’s great!
Book in a free consultation to find out more.
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I offer an ‘as long as needed or wanted’ approach, which means you will have full autonomy and control over when the sessions end. I ask for 2-weeks notice when possible, just so we can prepare for the ending and to offer a sense of closure, but I appreciate that this is not always possible and will respect your wishes. Some of my clients work with me for 2-3 months, and that feels like enough; others have been working with me for many years - it really is up to you.
I will aim to check-in regularly so that you have the opportunity to end and change how we work, as I know it can be hard to talk about. I promise you that inclusivity, understanding, and care are at the heart of how I work, so I will always make space for you to be honest with me.
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Just contact me today.
"... With Abby’s care, kindness, warmth, understanding and compassion I feel renewed and back in touch with myself."
Contact Me
Interested in working with me? Fill out this form and I will be in touch within just a few days.