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Anna-Marie Graves

Anna-Marie GravesAnna established Direct Counselling UK in 2007 with the aim of providing a professional, safe and accessible counselling service for online users.

Using clear and simple language to inform potential clients what to expect from face-to-face, telephone and online therapy has always been the key objective of the website and helps ensure online users can make informed choices before engaging in any therapeutic support.

Professional Membership and Qualifications

Anna has been providing a confidential, therapeutic counselling service to individuals, couples and groups since she began practising in 2004. She received MBACP membership with the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) in 2006 and is a BACP accredited and UKRCP registered counsellor. Her professional, ethical and confidential service is provided in accordance with the BACP Code of Ethics for good practice in counselling and psychotherapy (2002).

Beginning her training in 1999, Anna graduated from the University of Nottingham with an MA in Counselling Studies in 2006. Prior to achieving her post-graduate degree, she attained the Advanced Certificate in Counselling in 2002 and the Advanced Diploma in Counselling in 2004 and continues to develop her therapeutic knowledge and skills by completing additional training on an annual basis. This ensures you receive a service that is valuable and informed by recent advances in psychotherapy.

Interested in how neurological advances can inform counselling and psychotherapy, Anna combines established therapeutic practice with up to date techniques to help you reach a place where you can feel happier and more content with the way you live your life.

Theoretical Approach and Experience

Trained in person-centred counselling, Anna provides a therapeutic service which acknowledges and appreciates your individuality and seeks to help you understand and share your feelings; your fears, anxieties, hopes and wishes. She can provide a range of therapeutic techniques to develop understanding and help you express what is happening for you. These techniques can include exercises from SFBT (Solution Focused Brief Therapy) and image therapies such as sand play, creative journal writing, art therapy and creative therapy.

Providing an open, trusting and non-judgmental environment which will allow you to explore your issue in full, she will not directing you in how your therapy should go, but will help you develop insights and find answers to the issues that you bring. Anna has a particular interest in working with trauma and how the neurological responses to trauma affect emotional and physical wellbeing. In addition to exploring how the body reacts when under traumatic stress, she uses a specialist therapeutic technique known as ‘embodied empathy’ to help reunite psychological, emotional and physical responses following a traumatic event and believes that no problem is too big or too small for therapeutic support.

Beginning her practice in 2004, Anna has previously counselled students in a university, young people in mainstream education and employees in a local authority. Experienced in providing long term and brief therapy she has worked with clients of all ages from diverse cultures and backgrounds on a wide range of personal and professional issues. Anna began her private practice in 2007 when she founded Direct Counselling UK. In addition to offering telephone and face-to-face counselling privately to individuals, couples and groups; she provides counselling to UK and international trainee counsellors, addiction therapy for recovering addicts and workplace counselling.

Conflict Resolution

In conjunction with her therapy work Anna is a trained mediator. She completed her mediation training and began working in conflict resolution in 2002 whilst studying counselling. Anna initially provided mediation to neighbours in dispute for three years. She has helped showcase mediation as an effective tool for conflict resolution through a discussion show on local radio, articles in local newspapers and an article case study profiled in The Guardian. Anna currently provides homelessness prevention mediation to young people and their parents/carers and mediation training to employees for a local authority. She is available for consultancy, training and all matters pertaining to psychotherapy and mediation.