Sarah Worley

Sarah has worked fulltime as a counsellor since gaining her Diploma in Counselling in 1999.  She went on to gain her Masters in 2006, focusing her research on how counsellors’ individual perceptions of the CORE Outcome Measure evaluation tool might influence how they utilise it within counselling sessions.  She is a BACP accredited Counsellor, with experience in the substance misuse field, and within an employee counselling service.  This led her to develop particular interests in working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and issues around anxiety, depression, stress and anger management.   

Sarah’s interest in anger management has led her to develop Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy based courses, aimed at clients whose anger problems are exacerbated by their alcohol use.  She co-ordinates the workshop programme run by the Student Counselling Service, delivering many of the workshops herself, and is always keen to follow up new ideas for the programme.

Sarah’s counselling is based on a Humanistic-Existential approach, recognising that each client needs to find their own meaning and path in life.  She focuses on helping clients develop their self-awareness, to understand how they relate to themselves and the world around them.  Exploring with them the impact of these relationships on their current difficulties and the choices they make.  She helps clients to understand and accept that anxiety is a normal part of the change process.  She works flexibly with the needs of the individual client, integrating appropriately from other approaches, principally Motivational Interviewing, Solution Focused Brief Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy.  In this way she works with clients to identify their strengths, challenge unhelpful thinking cycles, and utilise their inner resources.  She assists them to develop new coping strategies and make positive changes.  

Sarah appreciates each client’s uniqueness, acknowledges and works with the diversity within their relationship and works to create a safe, trusting therapeutic space.  She aims to create a non-judgemental, empathic and collaborative environment in which the client is able to express themselves fully, as they reflect on and explore their issues.  She never ceases to admire the resilience, courage and strength individuals find to address and overcome their problems.