Libby Webber

I am an experienced counsellor and co-director of the Marple Cross Centre for counselling & psychotherapy in Portsmouth. I specialise in working with students and young adults, and with people affected by disability or long-term ill-health issues and their families.

What I believe about how counselling works

When we’re struggling with very painful emotions and experiences, we often wish to wipe the slate clean, push the feelings into the past, and move on from them. My belief is that it’s important to listen to our feelings and to understand where our emotional responses come from, as this helps us to resolve them, and then to work on changing the thoughts and anxieties that may be holding us back.

Easier said than done?

Many people find it difficult when they first come for counselling to talk openly about their emotions; that’s perfectly natural! After all, you and your counsellor start off as strangers to each other; learning that it’s safe to trust your counsellor is an important part of the therapy and it can take a little while to build.

Confidentiality

What takes place in the counselling session is confidential. I meet with a qualified counselling supervisor once a month, where I discuss my client work; I only use first names or pseudonyms so my clients’ identity is not disclosed. These meetings ensure that I’m working effectively and ethically and in the best interests of my clients. I’ll talk through all the details of my confidentiality policy at our first session.

How do you ‘do’ counselling?

There are many different ways to ‘do counselling’, and I always try to work in a way that is most comfortable for you as the client. My training is in integrative counselling; this enables me to draw on several theoretical ideas and methods of working in order to find the ‘best fit’ for you as the client. I see my role as a collaborative one – working alongside you, with both of us figuring out how to fit the pieces of life’s jigsaw back together. Here are some of the things we can do in counselling sessions:

• simply talk about whatever it is that has brought you to counselling
• use stones or other objects to represent the people or events in your life
• drawing or painting as a way of expressing your thoughts, feelings or experiences
• writing a ‘family tree’ or ‘life span diagram’ to depict the defining moments or relationships that have made you who you are
• writing a reflective journal
• constructing a ‘to do’ list of activities to be worked on during each session or in between sessions
• using an empty chair to represent the people you want to talk about in counselling

These are just some of the ways I’ve worked with clients; you may have some ideas of your own and I am very happy to discuss these with you.

Specialisms

Counselling for disability issues

I specialise in counselling for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions. As a counsellor specialising in this area, I’m aware of the potential need for flexibility around appointment times etc. The Marple Cross Centre is wheelchair-accessible and has accessible toilet facilities. I also work with family members affected by disability and long-term or chronic ill-health.

Counselling for students and young people

I’ve worked extensively as a counsellor with students and young people aged 18-25, from my time as a counsellor for Portsmouth University Student Counselling Service. I recognise that these years can be very difficult for some people: learning to be independent of our parents, forming long-term sexual relationships, starting on our careers, and discovering who we really are. For some, but not all, there may also be issues with drug or alcohol misuse or dependency. If you are a student with a valid college or university student ID, then I offer a discounted fee of £35 per session.

Counselling for grief, loss and bereavement

I also specialise in counselling for people suffering from grief, loss and bereavement. Loss can take many forms; for example, the loss of a job, a relationship, a person or pet, an aspect of your identity, an ambition or goal etc. Some losses are deemed ‘more significant’ than others, but we are all individuals, and what is a small loss for one person can be a devastating loss for another. By exploring our past experiences with loss, we can start to come to terms with what has happened this time around.

Training workshops

I have recently delivered training to colleagues on ‘Feed Me! Feed Me: Our emotional relationships to food’ and
‘Access all Areas: Disability in the counselling room’.

I am also available to deliver training on ‘Stigma: the effects of ‘otherness” and ‘So you want it on video? How to make video content for your therapy website’.

Background

Before training as a counsellor, I worked in the media as a producer, and in further and higher education as a tutor and mentor.

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