About Colin
Counselling and Therapy
30 years ago, a sequence of bereavements led me to soul searching, and seeking support for myself, including individual and group therapy, which I found very helpful. I subsequently trained and worked as a Samaritan. Since then, I have trained in a number in a number of counselling and therapy approaches (read more …). In 1994, I gained my Diploma in Humanistic Counselling, accredited by the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP), having worked with counselling clients in a busy and challenging Middlesborough GP surgery for 2.5 yrs. This training integrated Person-Centred and Gestalt approaches. I have also trained in Solution-Focussed Brief Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Psychodramatic Bodywork®.
I have worked in private practice for many years, have counselled staff and students at a 6th form college, and provided counselling for several companies, Employee Assistance Providers (EAPs), and gambling addiction services. While I work with a huge range of issues with my clients, I am known particularly as a specialist in solution-focussed brief therapy work, men’s issues, boarding school survivors and couples work.
I am registered with UKRC (United Kingdom Register of Counsellors) and am an accredited member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy); this means that I am regulated by BACP and have to abide by their Codes of Ethics and overseeing and disciplinary procedures. I receive regular clinical supervision, and for many years, have continued to update my own knowledge and skills through attending trainings for refreshing skills and learning new ones (for example, training to Advanced Level in Psychodramatic Bodywork 2005-2014).
Training, managing and supervising therapists
With a Certificate in Supervision from Bath Centre for Psychotherapy & Counselling, I am a qualified supervisor of counsellors and therapists, and group trainer and facilitator. Teaching on Counselling Training courses at Guildford College, in 2000 I became Programme Lead, managing the Counselling Department with 7 certificate courses, 3 Diplomas and a top-up degree- 250 students in all. After moving to Penzance, I managed the counselling training at Cornwall College in Camborne, taking responsibility for personal development groups and teaching professional development modules in particular.
I have since moved back into full-time private practice, my first love as a counsellor and therapist.
On the more personal side …
Starting out in Oxford, my wife and I have lived in York, then moved to Middlesborough, where our daughter was born; then, after some years in Basingstoke, we settled in Penzance. Personal interests over the years have included playing Table Tennis for my university and some sailing. Throughout my life I have been a keen musician. I was Head Chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford, later a Choral Scholar, and then a professional singer in York Minster Choir, and now Truro Cathedral. I have played and taught piano and flute, and played in the local Golowan Band.
Alongside my musical interests, I trained as a primary school teacher, gaining my PGCE in York, and started work in North Yorkshire teaching 7-11 year olds. I later moved into leading therapy training courses at colleges of further education (see below), and teaching has remained one of my keen interests, coming in useful in the counselling room when clients want to learn new skills with me.