About Catherine Cheshire-Neal

Do you want things to change? Do you want to feel better, feel happier? Counselling can help. 

We all have the potential to make change happen, to help ourselves feel better, but we may need some help and support along the way.

Wanting to change is the first step in making that change happen. Counselling can help you feel less alone, feel listened to, less judged and feel safe.

You may know what you want to work on or you may not, you may just know you want something to change. My role is being the person alongside you, to support you in making sense of challenges in life and making links to previous experiences or needs. This then enables you to learn new ways of being or relating and to thus move forward in life, feeling more empowered and with a greater sense of well being. I believe that change is possible.
I view the therapeutic relationship between client and counsellor to be fundamental to the work. I offer a confidential and safe space for you to explore what is feeling challenging or difficult. I encourage you to come along for an initial session to check whether I am the right person for you to be working with.

I work with all issues.
I am comfortable with working within a set number of sessions or open ended work.

My training, work experience and any achievement

I completed my Counselling training at Leeds University, where I studied the Relational Approach. In my experience all problems have a relational base. As relationships are alive in our present and our past, I work both in the ‘Here and Now’ of everyday life and also linking back to the past, from where some of these relational experiences may have developed.
My previous experience has involved working as a support worker for STAR (surviving trauma after rape), setting up a therapeutic allotment project for Leeds Refugee Council, delivering an educational programme of activities for BCEP (Bradford Community Environment project) and organising and delivering activities for children with a variety of special needs, including physical, emotional and behavioural.

As well as my private practice, I currently work for Surestart Counselling Service and as a volunteer for a charity offering counselling services in Halifax.
My richness of experience working within community services, education and the voluntary sector enables me to meet people with openness and without judgement. I am comfortable working with people with a diversity of background, age, gender and nationality. I view my strengths as my capacity to relate and connect with people, which I view as the foundation of the work. Also my reflective capacity,which means I am always growing and learning as a practitioner, which I think enables the work to always be fresh and informed by the individual.
I am experienced in working with many different issues, such as depression, low self-esteem, loss and separation, difficulties at work or in relationships, rape and sexual assault, BiPolar Disorder/Manic Depression, sexual abuse and those listed below