About Nes

Hello, I’m Vanessa, most people call me Nes. My pronouns are she/they.

I am a UKCP registered psychotherapist for children and young people and an MBACP Psychotherapeutic Counsellor for adults. I have a private practice in Kendal and Staveley in the beautiful South Lakes and I work online.

I have a strong commitment to therapy being an individualised journey with a focus on improving the quality of life of my clients. Safety is a priority for me, and I am guided by the most up-to-date approaches that show that for therapy to be successful the relationship and being in a calm and present state are essential.

My ethics are grounded in social justice and work from an intersectional perspective.

Approach

I integrate a range of theories and techniques, including Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, body psychotherapy, Somatic Trauma Therapy, sand tray, play, and creativity. I'm also a qualified yoga teacher and forest school leader.

I've completed a variety of training courses in order to offer diverse interventions for the diverse parts of you, including somatic trauma therapy, mindfulness, sensorimotor art therapy for trauma, movement for trauma coaching, EMDR, eco-psychotherapy, image-work, and a variety of nature-based and nature connection trainings. Many of these are listed below.

I tend to interweave these kinds of creative, embodied, nature-connected, and mindful practices throughout my psychotherapeutic offering depending on each individual’s needs and preferences.

Sessions can take place indoors or outdoors, or a mixture of both. Sometimes outdoor sessions are slow or static, sometimes moving, sometimes in woodlands and sometimes in the fells depending on individual preference and availability.

Experience

I have experience of working in schools, CAMHS, GP practices, sexual and domestic abuse charities and private practice. I have experience of working with people of all ages who have experienced relational trauma, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse; PTSD; experiencing overwhelming emotions, such as panic or mood-swings; anxiety; low-mood; depression; grief; eco-anxiety and those wishing to explore their feelings and experience following a diagnosis such as ADD or ADHD.

I am a member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, “exploring psychological responses to the climate crisis to strengthen relationships and resilience for a just future”. With lived experience of activism, I offer a compassionate and understanding approach to working with activists.

I co-authored the 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery Workbook with international trauma specialist, Babette Rothschild, who I also assist with her trainings.

I also offer workshops and trainings for other helping professionals, including counsellors and psychotherapists on self-care and trauma-informed practice.

I am a qualified and experienced mountain leader (member of the Mountain Training Association), and forest school leader, these skills can be useful for outdoor and walk-and-talk sessions, particularly for those people who find it more calming and therapeutic to be in a more-than-human setting.

I am also a qualified yoga teacher, trained in yoga therapy and yogic mindfulness.

Principles

Key considerations in my work include the therapeutic relationship, human-esteem, the individual, and self-examination/awareness. In addition to being guided by the ethics of the UKCP and BACP, the main principles by which I work as a therapist are:

1. To become obsolete.
   I am passionate about helping people to be able to employ the skills and tools gained in therapy for themselves, without my assistance. I am always working towards client autonomy and holding hope and possibility for it.

2. To value the relationship.

    I believe that the therapeutic relationship is the most important part of therapy, and offers the greatest potential for change.  It is the bedrock essential for other techniques to stand on. I am mindful to offer congruence, positive regard and empathic understanding to encourage transformative therapeutic change (Rogers (1957).

   The therapeutic relationship offers a possibility of experiencing something new, healing the there-and-then in the here and now (Stern, 2004). It can provide hope, a template and proof of what the future could be: It is possible to rupture and repair, to be seen and heard without judgment, to trust and be trusted, to be with another and be safe.

3. To guide toward greater awareness

   At a deeper level, I am moving implicit to explicit, increasing consciousness around patterns. I am always working in the direction of greater embodiment, of association rather than dissociation, of greater presence. This increases choice, empowerment and self-determination.

4. To create temenos

   Temenos is an Ancient Greek work that describes a safe and sacred space in which the True Self can emerge. Rather than make an assumption of what feels safe, based on my assumptions and experience, I work with each individual to create a space that offers this with awareness of individual needs.

   I follow the 10 Foundations for Safe Trauma Therapy set out by Babette Rothschild (2011). A sense of safety and stability is key to any therapeutic work, without it we cannot be present or integrated.

5. To develop a consensual and mutually agreed contract with the client.

   I am committed to contracting with clients to promote an ethical relationship. I support people to develop goals that are specific and measurable (Berne, 1972) so that we are clear and committed to the work and can easily assess if we are headed in the right direction.   

   Both therapist and client are responsible for the therapeutic journey. Unlike consuming a cure or remedy, therapy is a mutual process of experimentation and (serious) play, both must be invested in that experimentation and work and for change to happen. I am also a great believer in parthenogenesis, that everything needed is already within. I encourage clients to develop their “Goldilocks” whereby they are aware of what is just right and what is not so that they can be in the driving seat when choosing ways of working to meet their goal.

6. To improve the quality of life of the client.

   This includes the old adage “first, do no harm”. The therapeutic relationship and interventions themselves must be safe and not re-traumatizing. Being client-led (Geldard, Geldard and Foo, 2018), treating clients with respect, individualising the therapy and having self-awareness are integral to avoid recreating the power imbalances that may have been enforced in their past (Stauffer, 2021). Developing resources of safety and stabilization before exploring any trauma narratives is imperative (Rothschild, 2017).

7. To treat clients with respect

   Berne (1972) shared his human values that: people are OK; everyone has the capacity to think; people decide their own destiny, and these decisions can be changed. Roberts describes five key ingredients to human-esteem that echo and extend Berne’s I’m Okay, You’re Okay; “I and all people are powerful, capable, lovable, valuable and equal” (Roberts, 1987, pg. 2). I strongly concur and am enlivened by the journey of helping people recognise, and celebrate, these qualities within themselves.

8. To stay curious

   I enjoy attending workshops and courses, and reading, to gain a wide variety of skills and knowledge. I have attended a wide variety of training and CPD, which can be seen here.

   Science, and theory, are continually changing and developing and I am committed to staying up to date with findings, and determining what makes sense to me and my clients.

9. To be flexible

   I focus on each client’s individual experience and needs. No matter whether clients have similar experiences or challenges, the intervention and approach that suits them may be completely different. I adapt the therapy to suit the client.

10. To be anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive, and hold awareness of the impact of social constructs and influence.

    I feel it is essential to continually reflect on and develop awareness of my own biases. I am open and welcome others’ reflections where they experience ignorance or lack of understanding to their experience and am committed to accountability and self-development.

    I feel it is integral to the therapeutic process to hold awareness of the social constructs and cultural norms. I also feel that these are subjective, and whilst I endeavor to continue to educate myself on the generalities of culture and systems, I seek the individual and unique intersectional experience of the person I am working alongside. For example, while I believe it is my responsibility to educate myself on societal systems, cultures, and historical contexts that may (or may not) have impacted a client; I am focused on the client’s individual personal experiences and how much of that they wish to explicitly bring into therapy.

11. To continue self-examination and exploration

    I am passionate about holding an awareness of the wider structures of society, and their impact within therapeutic work. I am committed to being aware of, and continually reflecting on, the lens through which I view clients and how that impacts the therapy.

    I strongly believe that we, as counsellors, must reflect on our own power and privilege in order to recognise it so that it does not interfere with creating a secure and useful therapeutic relationship.  

12. To look after myself

    Burnout, vicarious trauma and counter-transference are prolific in therapists and are detrimental to both therapist and client. I am committed to my own wellbeing and employ a variety of care strategies.

I have a current DBS, Indemnity Insurance, ICO Data Control registration, trained in GDPR, and have a current outdoor and paediatric first aid certificate.