Service categories: Counselling and therapies

Service URL: https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/rebecca-richardson-3

• “How do I make sense of this? How do I get through this? What now?” 

You may be asking yourself these questions after discovering you're autistic or an ADHDer, experiencing trauma, abuse or bereavement, or during a significant change or transition in your life.

Or perhaps you don't really know what's brought you here. Something just doesn't feel right. You might feel anxious, depressed, lost, stuck or disconnected from yourself.

• What therapy with me is like

You can come as you are. We can work it out from there, together.

You don't need to arrive with the right words, a clear idea of what's wrong, or a plan for what you want from therapy. We can start wherever you are and take things from there, at a pace that feels manageable for you.

You don't have to edit yourself.

You don't have to hide the parts of yourself you've learned to make smaller, quieter or easier for other people. You can swear, go off on tangents, change your mind, contradict yourself, lose your words or train of thought, or tell me you think I've got it wrong.

I'll be part of the conversation with you, rather than leaving you to carry it on your own.

I'll listen, ask questions, and help us make sense of things together. Sometimes I'll share what I'm noticing or gently challenge something when I think it might be useful. Sometimes we'll even laugh.

I particularly welcome fellow neurodivergent people. As an autistic counsellor, I know how easily our experiences can be reduced to a diagnosis or textbook definition, or how easily we can end up feeling like we don't quite belong. There is space here to understand yourself, make sense of what you're experiencing, and find your way through it in your own way.

There can also be space for dreams, creativity, spirituality or body awareness, if those things feel meaningful to you. We don't have to force everything into one particular way of understanding yourself.

• Thinking about working together?

You don't need to have everything figured out before you get in touch.

If you'd like to talk things through, you're welcome to email me with any questions, or to book an initial chat so we can explore whether we're the right fit for each other (just click the link to contact me).

• Training, qualifications & experience

I hold a Level 5 Diploma in Integrative Humanistic Counselling and I'm a registered member of the Professional Standards Authority-accredited National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society. My training also includes trauma-informed practice.

Alongside my private practice, I work as a counsellor within a community setting. I have experience supporting bereaved people in group settings and facilitating groups that have included space for spiritual perspectives on loss and healing...and of course lived experience of being autistic!

My work is informed by existential, transpersonal and liberation psychology, and grounded in a neuro-affirming, non-pathologising, trauma-informed approach.

• A little about my lived experience

I know that it can be helpful to know a little about the person you're considering working with, particularly when deciding whether you might feel comfortable with them. I'm an autistic counsellor with lived experience of single motherhood, bereavement, family estrangement, relational trauma and growing up as a twin.

Aimed at: Adolescent , Adult , Adult sibling, Anyone with an Association to Autism, Parent or carer of under 18, Parent/carer of a child, Parent/carer of a young person, Parent/carer of an adult, Parents or carers, families, adults, Partner

Referral Sources: Yourself

Specialisms: Autism, Autism and Neurodivergent , Generic, Has autism-specific elements, Has autism-specific elements