Jenny Hodsdon
at
Meadows Counselling
Welcome, I'm Jenny, and I'm an experienced Anxiety, Grief and Couples Counsellor who can help you to find a calmer, more joyful and clearer path through life.
Life's challenges, difficulties in your closest relationships, work stress and your coping style can really impact your capacity to live our best life. I feel that is such a shame when very often we just need a little help to see what is happening, where we are stuck or what patterns we have fallen into.
Don't waste another day stumbling through life.
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Thank you for dropping in to check out my website. Whilst you are here I hope you will learn something about me and what I can offer you, and if not, just get in touch as I'm always happy to answer any questions you may have.
I am a very experienced, trauma-informed Counsellor using a number of techniques and offering both face to face and online counselling sessions to adults.
I am based in Romiley near Stockport and offer face to face sessions to you if you live within travelling distance (includes Hyde, Denton, Marple, Marple Bridge, Offerton, Bredbury and Woodley). If that's difficult for you then I offer online sessions to you wherever you are in the UK.
My training, life experiences (for more about this see here) and previous career as a scientist have given me many skills including patience, empathy and a warm hearted professionalism.
I feel proud to be able to offer my clients a practice that is inclusive, informed and safe.
For your safety, I ensure that I keep up to date with training and current developments in the world of mental health.
I have studied Psychology and mental health since 2005 and have been counselling for the last 10 years. In addition to running my Private Practice where I counsel adults, I offer bespoke workshops (see my Services page here) on a variety of subjects.
I occasionally contribute to publications including Therapy Today, the BACP's magazine.
Counselling
Counselling can lower anxiety, increase low self esteem and help with difficulties in relationships
Counselling-how can it help?
Counselling gives you greater awareness of your thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Counselling gives you time that is just for you to talk about, and explore, your worries, your concerns, your hopes and your goals.
It can help you to understand why you feel the way you do and this in turn increases self-awareness. Many of us can go through life feeling that we don't matter, but that is usually a message we have picked up from our carers, or others, along the way.
I believe that you deserve to live a rich and fulfilling life. If you feel that isn't happening for you right now then booking your first counselling session can be the first step towards it.
If you have feelings of dread when you wake up or before leaving to go to work and feel faint or notice your heart rate increasing then you may be suffering from anxiety and panic attacks and you may benefit from therapy.
Anxiety symptoms are unpleasant but there are ways to bring this distressing condition under control. I will work with you to develop your own 'backpack' of helpful techniques to use when you are feeling anxious.
If you have feelings that you are 'not good enough', you may have low self esteem. Our self esteem can be defined as being how highly we value and see ourselves. It can be influenced by many factors, for example the family environment we grew up in, whether we feel we are capable and whether we can achieve what we set out to do in life.
Perhaps you have noticed that you like to keep people around you happy, but sometimes to your own detriment. If so, then you may be a 'people-pleaser' Perhaps you find yourself unable to say 'no' at work, despite having a huge stack of to-do's on your plate? I used to be a people-pleaser myself, but, with help, I was able to find a way out of this difficult way of being (it is possible!).
You may have had a sub-optimal childhood, and may have been exposed to negative experiences during it. This can leave us finding it difficult to trust others and can affect our close relationships. However long ago these things happened, it is never too late to start your journey towards understanding what happened to you and begin to recover.
We can improve our self esteem by noticing our strengths.
Sometimes we can become aware that we have a self talking style that is not encouraging-it can even be quite harsh! For example, you park and forget to pay for a ticket, resulting in a fine. 'I'm so stupid!' you say to yourself, when in fact you may have had too much on your plate that day. Instead, being more compassionate with yourself by saying, 'I've had a very busy day, I maybe need to sit, have a coffee and gather myself a bit!' would mean you don't make yourself feel even worse. Negative self talk or 'critical inner voice' can be hard to change, but therapy can help you to treat yourself better and quieten it.
We can hush our Critical Inner Voice by being our own best friend.
Counselling-what it is and what it isn't
Not every counsellor will 'suit' you, irrespective of the approach they adopt. I have experienced choosing a counsellor (all counsellors have!) and it can be quite an instinctive thing, a gut feeling if you like.
Our mental health is something that involves every part of us-how we were parented, our brain and nervous system, but also our relationships with others, how we move and how often, our habits (good and bad!) and our health.
I can use a number of approaches in your therapy, and usually I will
use a blend of these approaches.
I have chosen to work this way because we are all unique and it is important that your therapy is as individual as you are.
This will ensure you get the best counselling experience that suits you, your issue and your practical requirements.
This means your therapy will look very different from someone else's.
The main models and theories I use include Counselling for Loss & Bereavement, Creative Counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,
Transactional Analysis, Polyvagal Theory, Internal Family Systems and
Humanistic/Person Centred.
"I am an experienced and trauma-informed counsellor using my training and expertise to help my clients free themselves from anxiety,
be less self critical and begin to live authentically."