Stress & burnout counselling in Barnsley

You don't need to tick every one of those, or wait until you've properly broken down. Feeling like this is reason enough.

The approach

We'll look at what's driving the exhaustion, which is often as much about expectations and habits as it is about workload itself, and work out what can realistically change.

Counselling isn't a medical treatment and I can't promise a particular outcome. In sessions, you get space to think clearly about a situation you're too close to, and practical support in protecting your own limits.

Sessions can help with:

• Working out what's actually driving the exhaustion, not just the symptoms
• Practical changes to protect your time and energy
• Untangling work pressure from what's happening in the rest of your life
• Rebuilding rest that actually recharges you
• Deciding what needs to change, and what's realistic to change first

Work-related stress

For a lot of people, work is where the pressure starts. Signs it's getting too much include:

• Dreading Sunday evenings, or not sleeping before a working day
• Checking emails late at night and first thing in the morning
• Making mistakes you wouldn't normally make
• Snapping at colleagues, or avoiding them
• Getting ill on days off, or feeling guilty for taking them

Employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by doing a risk assessment and acting on it, according to the Health and Safety Executive. If work is the cause, it can help to raise it with your manager or HR, or to ask your GP about a fit note. Counselling gives you space to work out what you want to change and how to say it.

I'm a Registered Member of the BACP (45587) and an Accredited Registrant with the NCPS (NCS20-00911), and I work within the BACP Ethical Framework.

What happens in sessions

You can start with a free 10-minute call, or book a session straight away if you already know you'd like to. The call has no forms and no commitment. You tell me a little about what's going on, I tell you how I'd work with it, and you decide whether it feels right.

Sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly to start. There's no fixed number of sessions and no contract tying you in.

What you tell me is confidential, with the standard exceptions every counsellor works to around serious risk of harm. I'll explain exactly how that works before we begin.

Your options, in full

Private counselling with me is one way through this, not the only one. Here's the full picture for stress and burnout, so you can decide what's right for you.

Your GP. Worth speaking to if stress or burnout is affecting your sleep, appetite or physical health, or if it's tipped into something that feels like it needs medical attention.

NHS Talking Therapies. Free, and you can usually refer yourself without going through your GP first, if you're registered with a GP and aged 18 or over (16 in some areas). Barnsley Talking Therapies takes self-referrals on 01226 644900.

Your employer. If work is the main driver, it's worth checking what support your employer already offers, such as an Employee Assistance Programme. I also offer workplace counselling that employers can arrange directly.

You don't have to pick just one. If you're not sure what's right, that's exactly what the free 10-minute call is for.

Where I work

I see people in person in private counselling rooms within the South Yorkshire Physiotherapy Centre, Day Street, Barnsley, S70 1NW, and by video or telephone anywhere in the UK.