Victoria Crowther Counselling
Individual & Couples therapist in Chislehurst & UK-Wide online
Heal - Grow - Thrive
About
Hi, I'm Victoria
I'm an experienced counsellor offering effective therapy for individuals experiencing generalised, social, and existential anxiety, as well as burnout and depression. I will support you with effective strategies to manage and alleviate your symptoms, whist we work towards discovering and tackling the root cause. Together we will challenge outdated beliefs about yourself and others, cultivate new thought patterns, identify your strengths and improve self-esteem, so that you can feel better and more confident in navigating life's inevitable challenges. My therapeutic approach is customised to your individual needs and includes a special focus on relational and existential psychology.
I offer a face-to-face counselling service from my private and comfortable therapy room in Chislehurst, Kent and also UK-wide online via video call. I have been in practice since the start of 2017 and I am a registered member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP), which means that I adhere to their high standards of proficiency, professionalism and good practice.
My areas of expertise also include acute and accumulative trauma recovery and working with couples and families. Please read on to the Counselling Services section for more details on how I approach specific difficulties and how I work with couples and families.
Counselling Services
Anxiety & Depression
Trauma, Abuse and PTSD
Trauma, Abuse and PTSD
Anxiety and depression are uncomfortable and sometimes debilitating, but they don't have to be permanent fixtures or labels that become part of your identity. Anxiety for example may just be your naturally evolved internal warning system, telling you that something is wrong and needs to be addressed.
By exploring the origins of any difficu
Anxiety and depression are uncomfortable and sometimes debilitating, but they don't have to be permanent fixtures or labels that become part of your identity. Anxiety for example may just be your naturally evolved internal warning system, telling you that something is wrong and needs to be addressed.
By exploring the origins of any difficulties and discovering more about yourself and your responses to others, you'll have the opportunity to challenge and adjust your perceptions and discover strengths and perhaps choices you did not know you had.
The process may involve considering external influences such as family, societal or cultural expectations of you based on your gender, race, sexuality or socioeconomic status for example. Or your exposure to stressors during your life and how this has shaped your own perceptions and expectations. It's through this exploration that you can get to know yourself better and start to experience self-compassion, acceptance and belonging. Or grieve and heal from a devastating loss. You'll feel more grounded, whole and empowered.
Trauma, Abuse and PTSD
Trauma, Abuse and PTSD
Trauma, Abuse and PTSD
It is completely normal to experience symptoms following painful and traumatic circumstances. These may include flashbacks, emotional dysregulation, dissociation, anxiety, tearfulness and feeling unsafe. However, if you are still having these symptoms months, or even years later, it is likely that they are getting in the way of your life
It is completely normal to experience symptoms following painful and traumatic circumstances. These may include flashbacks, emotional dysregulation, dissociation, anxiety, tearfulness and feeling unsafe. However, if you are still having these symptoms months, or even years later, it is likely that they are getting in the way of your life and your work. There may be triggers that can take you back to the moment of the traumatic experience. Or perhaps you feel like it is always with you, stopping you from moving on, especially if the trauma was during childhood.
Trauma and PTSD can result from a single harrowing experience, something you have endured, seen or been deeply affected by. It can also be accumulative, perhaps from the nature of your work, an abusive relationship, illness of a loved one or childhood abuse and/or neglect. The latter especially can result in complex PTSD (C-PTSD), which can be particularly difficult to understand, as the trauma may not be consciously remembered, but still be experienced implicitly in the body or in your sense of self.
How we will agree to work together will depend on your needs and choice. If it feels important to you, I will support you to safely talk about your experience. However, research has shown that it is not necessary to talk in detail about a traumatic event but rather the meaning that has been made from it, about yourself or other people for example.
I will also provide you with techniques to calm and soothe your dysregulated nervous system - which may have become either hypersensitised or even desensitised to real or perceived threat. You will find that you can finally begin the process of healing and moving forward.
Burnout
Couples & Families
Couples & Families
Occupational burnout is characterised by exhaustion, emotional dysregulation, decreased motivation and loss of ambition and increased cynicism and indifference to others. It can lead to chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, insomnia and even addictions.
Professions with the highest rates of burnout include (but are not limited to) doctors
Occupational burnout is characterised by exhaustion, emotional dysregulation, decreased motivation and loss of ambition and increased cynicism and indifference to others. It can lead to chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, insomnia and even addictions.
Professions with the highest rates of burnout include (but are not limited to) doctors, nurses, paramedics, police officers, teachers, lawyers and professionals working in continually high-stress conditions.
This is due to excessive workloads, pressures and expectations from others, lack of control, interference by or lack of support from managers, organisational instability, front-line practice, threats of complaints or violence and dysfunctional and toxic workplace cultures.
Although the symptoms of burnout often abate during time off, adjustments in boundaries and work/life balance, increased resilience and self-care are required to provide ongoing protection from burnout.
Therapy can aid you make the necessary adjustments by helping you refocus, address feelings of powerlessness to change your situation and regain clarity about the value of your work. Reinstating a sense of being in control, meaning and purpose will provide you with a renewed psychological position from which to move forward.
Though most commonly associated with work, burnout can also be experienced by parents and those in caring roles.
Couples & Families
Couples & Families
Couples & Families
Couples counselling and family therapy offers a safe and mediated space in which to de-escalate conflict, re-establish communication and gain insight into and address the difficulties that have arisen in the relationship. I will support you to work together to identify and understand the patterns of conflict and what each of you needs to
Couples counselling and family therapy offers a safe and mediated space in which to de-escalate conflict, re-establish communication and gain insight into and address the difficulties that have arisen in the relationship. I will support you to work together to identify and understand the patterns of conflict and what each of you needs to feel heard and understood, establishing emotional safety and trust.
Relationships faulter when we do not feel valued, understood and cared for. This can lead to resentment, arguments and loss of faith that things can improve.
Our work together in couples counselling can also help you to recover from a betrayal and on building other vital qualities of a thriving partnership such as intimacy, pleasure, fun and shared objectives.
Victoria Crowther Counselling
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