Stephen's approach is founded on the establishment of a genuine, supportive and collaborative counselling relationship within which he works from a humanistic perspective in a holistic and integrative way. What does all of this mean? Well:

 

• Stephen strongly believes that counselling can only succeed if it is built upon the firm foundations of a genuine, respectful and collaborative relationship between the counsellor and the client. He therefore endeavours to engage in a genuine human dialogue with each client and in so doing aims to create a secure and trusting relationship within which the client feels safe to explore their important concerns and difficulties;

 

• Stephen works from a humanistic perspective, which means that he is firmly convinced that people are fundamentally inclined towards positive growth and development and that each person carries within them their own unique set of solutions to life's challenges. Accordingly, Stephen regards his role as helping his clients tap into their own innate wisdom and strengths so that they may find and implement the solutions that are right for them;

 

• Stephen takes a holistic approach to counselling, meaning that he prefers not to focus exclusively on the management or relief of symptoms, but instead seeks to understand the entire person in the context of their own unique life situation. He then works with each client to help them effect positive psychological and behavioural changes which often result not only in an increased sense of clarity and effectiveness, but also in the alleviation of the original troublesome symptoms;

 

• Stephen's approach is integrative, meaning that he does not subscribe to a "one size fits all" view of counselling but instead looks to draw flexibly upon a variety of theoretical systems and treatment models according to the needs of the individual client. 

Stephen is trained in person-centered counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), emotion-focused therapy (EFT) and Jungian analytical psychology. He is convinced that the interests of his clients are best served by his being able to draw on all of these approaches in an intelligent, spontaneous and flexible way.