My name is Mairi Henderson, and I am a fully qualified integrative counsellor, registered with BACP. I have experience working with clients in private, charitable and school settings. My approach is integrative, with a strong person-centred basis, which means I will use different modalities of counselling to best fit your personal needs and goals. My other roles include being a wife, mother of four grown up children, grandmother, carer and former teacher.
My particular interests in counselling include, but are not limited to working with young people, students, anxiety and living with chronic health conditions.
Work with Young People
As well as working with adults, I have advanced training in counselling children and young people (aged 10-18 years). Anxiety, depression, low mood, self-injuring behaviours can have a hugely negative effect on all areas of a young person’s life, not to mention the potential effect on future opportunities. Children and young people often find it particularly hard to put their thoughts and feelings into words, and that is why working creatively with this age group is particularly helpful.
Anxiety
The nervous system is a bit like a smoke alarm. It is supposed to be there in case of emergencies, it is part of us, and when it’s doing its job properly, it’s good and it’s healthy.The problem arises when our nervous system becomes over-sensitive and perceives threat and danger everywhere. When this happens, our alarm system goes off, flooding our bodies with adrenaline and cortisol, and putting us in a “survival” state. Once the cycle of anxious thoughts, feelings and physical symptoms has started, it’s impossible to stop it using “mind over matter”. You cannot think your way out of anxiety once it is there. It is in our bodies and that’s where we must start to break its cycle.
Through counselling, we can learn techniques to put our bodies back into a calmer state and feel safer again. We can influence our brains, slow them down and reduce anxious, overthinking thought patterns.
Living with chronic illness
For many people, living with a chronic illness such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) can be an anxious and frustrating experience. Fatigue, widespread pain, digestive problems, and disordered sleep are just some of the more common symptoms. Dealing with these daily can be very isolating, and for some sufferers, this may lead to low mood, depression and/or anxiety. Unfortunately, this is often a vicious cycle, with each component exacerbating the other.
In his book ‘The Body Says No’, Dr Gabor Mate writes about the mind-body connection:
“The body will always find a way to communicate its needs. Whether we pay attention or not.”
Talking about your worries and frustrations and exploring new ways to cope with the limitations the condition brings, can help make it more manageable.
CBT, a type of therapy which works by interrupting the negative cycle of thoughts, physical feelings emotions and actions, and breaking down overwhelming problems into smaller, more manageable chunks, can also be effective for some clients.
Mindfulness, a practice which helps reduce stress and anxiety by focusing on being in the present moment, can also be very useful as it helps the body to be in a naturally more healing state.
In summary…
My underpinning value is respect for every individual’s personal experience, and I am committed to meeting all my clients with openness, acceptance, and compassion whatever they may be going through. The therapeutic journey can be challenging and difficult at times, but the rewards can make it all worthwhile.
Linden Counselling 