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Profile - Anna Graves

My Qualifications and Experience
I have been a member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) since August 2002 and received MBACP membership in December 2006 after graduating from the University of Nottingham with an MA in Counselling Studies in 2006.
In addition to this training I have also completed the AQA Advanced Diploma in Counselling Skills and Theory (2004) and the AQA Advanced Certificate in Counselling (2002). I began my counselling training in 1999 and continue to further my skills and professional development. I studied for my Masters degree at the University of Nottingham on a full-time basis. This has given me the opportunity to work with a wide range of international students, and I have developed a clear, grounded knowledge of working with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures with many different experiences.
In addition to my post graduate study, I have experience of counselling national and international students within a university setting, and this experience lends itself very well to counselling clients from around the world in an online therapeutic setting.

My Approach
I work to a person-centred approach in counselling, so I will work with the issues that you bring and will avoid directing you in the way that I think your therapy should go. In this way, I hope we will eventually reach the place where you would like to be. If I feel that you are continually avoiding an issue, I will discuss this with you in order to better understand you and help us move forward together. Person-centred counselling can be transferred very well online and we can decide between us how long you would like to take part in therapy.
I can offer my experience of counselling in time-limited therapy (less than eight sessions) and open ended therapy (over twelve sessions) and we can review our work at regular intervals in order to ensure you are getting what you need. This also gives me the opportunity to review how I think our work together is progressing. This process is two-way and your feedback is invaluable. If I feel at any time that I am not able to offer you what you need, I will discuss this with you and we can decide the best way forward. If we decide that online therapy is not working for you I can refer you to other forms of help or alternative services in your area which may be more appropriate to you needs.

Supervision
My work is supervised by a qualified, experienced counselling supervisor and while I take care to protect the identity of my clients; this supervisory relationship helps ensure that I am able to provide my clients with the best help possible. I return to counselling for myself when I feel it is necessary.