Shaun

I have over 8 years experience in Talking Therapies as a Counsellor, following in my mother's footsteps. I trained as a Counsellor - starting with Sheffield Colleges, then doing Online Courses before heading to Leeds Beckett to complete my PG Cert in Counselling.  Further qualifications include but not limited to, Mindfulness, 'Cruze' Bereavement, and Pastoral Care & Counselling Skills. I am a Senior Member of the Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists organisation (ACCPH).

I specialise in the areas that I have had help in: Bereavement, Anxiety & Depression, and Gaming Addiction, sharing my experiences in improving my own Mental Wellbeing, by helping those in need, in person and through applications like Zoom. Through utilising my experiences, I also help the online community: Bloggers, and anyone who feels they either cannot go out or don't have the time to travel to an office for face-to-face therapy, and those addicted to Social Media and Video Gaming.

With Pastoral Care experience, this also allows me to reach out to members of different religions, as it can be difficult with the ongoing historical stigma associated with the broken link between Religion and Mental Health.

My LinkedIn

AWARDS:

GHP Award 2023 - Best Online Mental Welfare Counselling Service 2023

GHP Award 2023 - Excellence Award for Online Mental Health Counselling 2023

FEEDBACK:

"I was in a very low place and have come a long way since then. I haven’t felt this clear headed in a very long time, so thank you for helping me through that."

"I quite liked chatting with you because you were not judgemental. It was what I needed at that time."

"Thank you so much for today, I really did get a lot more out of it than I expected"

Samantha (Sam)

“You were a mistake" "I wish you had never been born" "Your not wanted” Harsh words aren't they? Words nobody should be hearing every day as youngster.  Hearing these words amongst coupled with physical abuse from a parent were a contribution to my breakdown after the death a family member.  I have had experience with Homelessness, Women's Refuge and being able to walk away from that. 

Going through intensive therapy and working incredibly hard, has given me experience and coping mechanisms.  Being helped through therapy, led to my passion for really helping others, igniting my desire for learning, to understand myself better and working on triggers. This all lead to learning new skills, which empowered me. I want to pass these skills on so others can be empowered. We are always learning and what I have learnt so far on my Level 2 and 3 has helped me and my children through a difficult time.

I know my boundaries, what my Counselling limitations are, I want to be a part of peoples journey that helps them to help themselves, seeing that light re-ignite inside of them. I take a look at myself in many ways and learn every day and I want to pass on them skills I have learnt to others.

I have experience with BSL.  I volunteer in groups where I played a part in other's journeys, including running a small mental health support group on Facebook.  I still have Therapy with a qualified counsellor and he's more than happy to give me space to talk if I ever feel I need to.  I have learnt so far I have a huge amount of resilience, strength, understanding, empathy and self-awareness, I am non-judgemental and with self-awareness I know I have a lot of areas I need to work on and am willing to work on any challenges to turning them into opportunity and then into strengths.

Article:  Finding a Therapist

Does this sound like your story? It was mine.

It was some time ago that I needed to find my first therapist, yes I said first. I found the process rather daunting at the time, adding to my requirement or need to see a therapist but I wasn't sure how or what different therapists there were. I was lucky I support as I had a family member who was a Counsellor, but I hadn't let them know what was going on at the time (they knew later on).

I was about to have what most people would call a Breakdown but I thought I could manage, that I could cope with the struggles and stresses I was going through at the time, this is over 20 years ago now. I was having a lot of issues with bereavement, divorce, redundancies (yes, plural) and moving. With studying at the time and with moving, having to do a lot of travelling in order to sustain this study, this put a toll on me. I'd not really dealt with 3 bereavements or 3 redundancies (they say things come in 3's).

So what was I to do? I'd always been the Strong One, the one everyone else came to. But now I was struggling, a lot. Work was good but I knew something was wrong, finances were a struggle, I was one of those no-so-absent fathers, who took on the bills, made sure they saw their child and did everything they possibly could for their child short of being physically there, even at the expense of eating. They were relentless, I ended up not having to pay so much but I still did. I'm sure others can relate to this.

Now we have the issue, everything came crashing down when one day I stopped, looked at my team leader and said "I need to see a Doctor, I have no idea what I was just doing". Calling the Doctor (I didn't know who else to call) and without knowing, demonstrated that I was really very poorly and got signed off for 6 months. I needed support but where do I go, I needed help but who was I to get it from?

So, the first port of call, the Doctor. They advised I went and had some Therapy, some Counselling, so I contacted the University I was with and was put in touch with a Counsellor, I couldn't manage with them, so the Doctor put me forward for CBT, they said I needed other Therapy and put me forward for Group Therapy. I slept during meditations, twice. I was told I needed 1-2-1 Counselling and was put forward again for CBT, the Counsellor said I needed Therapeutic Counselling. This all messed with my head but I persevered.



After four different Counsellors, I finally got one at the local University whom I could work with and spend some or most of the first few sessions crying. Yes men, it is ok to cry, even if you keep it to personal space. The Counsellor dealt with general Counselling, using Gestalt and Person Centred approaches. We actually dealt with Grief, not just bereavement. I didn't know that loss of job, home, lifestyle, place, partners, children, purpose, were all part of the grieving process.

Eventually I came out the other side and decided that I was going to study whilst I worked, eventually so I could become a Counsellor, to give back for what others did for me. I started work with my family member who was a Counsellor, we discussed some of the things I was training with. We also spoke about the type of Therapist I was to become, what I was going to specialise in.

The struggles I had in finding a Therapy, finding a Therapist that worked for me was difficult, but not impossible. I hope that by reading this, you too can find your therapist and not be disheartened by the struggle to find you once more.

Shaun Arthur

Counsellor - SLA-Counselling.com