LOUISE HOOPER COUNSELLING
Counselling. Consultation.
Louise Hooper Counselling
Dip.Couns (UWE), Accredited MBACP, IFS Therapist (trained with the IFS Institute)
How can I help?
Hello and Welcome. I am an experienced counsellor and offer a warm, safe and supportive therapeutic space where we can explore concerns at your own pace. Together we can create some space in your life for you to value yourself and gain some understanding, to facilitate clarity and foster meaningful transformation in your life. Some people contact me wanting to work with a specific issue, whereas others come to counselling wanting space to review where they are and bring some balance back into their life. I can help you to be curious and reflective, allowing you to make sense of your situation, gain clarity and live with more ease and connection with yourself and others.
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​As part of my training, I have had counselling myself and know how challenging it can be to cross the threshold, put trust in someone else and to allow all of yourself to show up. It can take courage to be curious.
My experience
I have experience working with a diverse range of difficulties, such as (but not only): depression and stress; anxiety and panic attacks; domestic abuse; sexual abuse; bereavement and other life losses; addiction; difficulty adjusting to life changes; feeling overwhelmed and not knowing why; living according to the expectation of others; low self-esteem, negative thoughts and self judgement; self-harm and suicide; past or present relationship and family difficulties; trauma and attachment trauma; chronic pain; chronic illness; getting caught up in overthinking and no being able to switch off your brain.
How I work
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As an integrative therapist, I am able to draw on a range of approaches including IFS (Internal Family Systems), Person Centred, Gestalt, Psychodynamic and creativity. I am interested in meditation, mindfulness and compassion and like to work somatically with the whole person, which includes the connection between the mind and the body – as trauma, anxiety and stress can manifest itself physically in the body and nervous system.
Our work together
‘Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are’ Rachel Naomi Remen
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A period of difficulty (although sometimes painful), can be an opportunity to give yourself the time and space to discover more about you. Patterns and adaptions, that helped you to fit into your families, workplaces and social relationships, may not be serving you in your life now and can become exhausting to your emotional wellbeing, physical wellbeing and mental health. Internal Family Systems therapy offers a powerful, yet gentle and compassionate way to turn towards these patterns. You may have beliefs about yourself that are limiting and weigh heavy in you. This isn't about fixing yourself, it's about building a more compassionate relationship with the parts of you that try to protect, manage or make sense of what you've lived through.
Bereavement and loss​​​
I help people through bereavement and we all experience loss in our life, but loss is not only experienced when someone has died. We can be impacted by divorce or loss of a partnership, loss of health, loss of a sense of who we are or a loss of direction in life, redundancy and retirement, a sense of loss when children leave home and many more. If may feel like the ground beneath you has opened up and you are separated from life as usual. It may be a place of uncertainty between what is no longer and what is yet to come. It is important to take time to grieve these losses.
Training and experience
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My background is teaching music and education, including working with children with additional needs.
I have experience in bereavement counselling and provided one to one counselling at Longfield Hospice for adults who have been bereaved by the death of parents, partners, siblings and children. My clients also included those with a life-limiting illness and carers of people who have Parkinson's, Dementia and cancer.
I have worked with Southside Family Project, a family support charity, where many of my clients experienced domestic abuse, emotional trauma, depression, anxiety, low self-worth and relationship difficulties. Here I developed an interest in how emotional trauma can affect the body, which may lead to chronic illness and depression - the legacy of which is just starting to be recognised.
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I respect diversity in our community and am climate aware.
I have an interest in developing my work with chronic pain and chronic illness and those who have experienced trauma and childhood trauma.
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Professional Qualifications
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Diploma in Counselling (Level 6), University of the West of England (UWE)
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IFS (Internal Family Systems) trained therapist with the IFS Institute (Level 1)
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Essential Elements of Counselling Young People, University of the West of England (UWE)
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Certificate in Counselling, University of the West of England (UWE)
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MBACP (Accred) - I am an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
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Internal Family Systems for Trauma, Anxiety, Depression and Addiction with Dr Richard Schwartz and Dr Frank Anderson
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Integrative Trauma Treatment blending IFS, Sensorimotor, Mindfulness and Psychoeducation with Janina Fisher
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IFS INSTITUTE
Contact
Address
Office 6, Unit 3
Forest Gate
Pewsham
Chippenham
SN15 3RS
Contact
07429 605409
Please feel free to call or text me, or send me an email to find out more and ask any questions. If I am not available, please leave a message and I will get back to you.