Simon Cole

Relational Therapy

After around 20 years doing counselling or counselling-related work, I have moved to south-west France to create a therapeutic centre, as well as continue counselling by telephone and internet chat for those in the UK who are happy, or might prefer, to work that way. Here, we offer a setting in which the visitor can feel accepted and in which nothing is expected of them. I facilitate retreats and work with people with meditation and walking and counselling, if that is what they want.

The approach is similar to my approach as a person-centred counsellor, in which I believe I accept the client and expect nothing except that they expect something of themselves. As a counsellor I work a lot through focusing and visualisation to help the client understand what is happening and release themselves from the bars they feel are enclosing them. I also work with dreams, which often allow us to see the unseen from the perspective of full consciousness.

I worked with the Samaritans before becoming a counsellor. Following this I worked with addictions and then in secondary care in the NHS. Then, for the 12 years before I left the UK, I had been the counsellor in a large medical practice in the north of England, which meant helping and treating a very wide range of issues and conditions for women and men across all ages from 16 upwards and across all backgrounds. Alongside this I was a trainer and director of an advanced diploma course. I am a senior accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

I cannot offer you face-to-face counselling, unless you are in a position to arrange a therapeutic stay at Le Sentier Tranquille. But from here I can offer telephone counselling and supervision via an 0844 number (which costs 3p/minute incl.VAT) or online counselling via Skype. For more about me and our centre near the Pyrenees, please visit: life counselling… for health growth and fulfilment.