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Victoria Crowther Counselling
Individual and Couples Counsellor in Chislehurst and UK-Wide online
Heal - Grow - Thrive
About
Hi, I'm Victoria
How I work with individuals
How I work with individuals
I am a fully qualified counsellor, experienced in providing effective therapy for generalised, social and existential anxiety, trauma, abuse, burnout and depression. I have been doing so since the start of 2017.
I offer a face-to-face counselling service from my private and comfortable therapy room in Chislehurst, near Bromley in Kent and
I am a fully qualified counsellor, experienced in providing effective therapy for generalised, social and existential anxiety, trauma, abuse, burnout and depression. I have been doing so since the start of 2017.
I offer a face-to-face counselling service from my private and comfortable therapy room in Chislehurst, near Bromley in Kent and also UK-wide online via video call. 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.
How I work with individuals
How I work with individuals
How I work with individuals
Therapy offers you a dedicated time and space to voice how you are thinking and feeling, without being judged. You can get to know and understand yourself and the beliefs and values by which you live your life.
As an integrative therapist, with a particular emphasis on existential psychology, I tailor my approach to your specific needs, p
Therapy offers you a dedicated time and space to voice how you are thinking and feeling, without being judged. You can get to know and understand yourself and the beliefs and values by which you live your life.
As an integrative therapist, with a particular emphasis on existential psychology, I tailor my approach to your specific needs, paying careful attention to your unique human existence in this modern and often overwhelming world.
The therapeutic process will create new ways of thinking and transform how you feel about yourself and other people and how you navigate life's inevitable challenges.
Please read on to the Counselling Services section for more details on how I approach specific difficulties.
How I work with couples
How I work with individuals
How I work with couples
Couples counselling 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 need to feel heard and under
Couples counselling 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 need 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 can 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.
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
Trauma, Abuse and PTSD
Burnout
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.
Victoria Crowther Counselling
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