Gayle Sykes

I am a compassionate therapist and provide a space where you can feel safe and accepted and can speak freely without fear of judgement. I have experience of providing counselling in the NHS and voluntary sector.

People seek therapy for a multitude of reasons, it could be due to a specific problem or life event. You may be feeling overwhelmed, stressed and anxious. It may be that you are struggling in your relationships with others. You may have low self-esteem, be overly self-critical and have fears of not being good enough. You could feel stuck and be aware that you are repeating unhelpful behaviour patterns. Or you may feel generally dissatisfied with life and wish to make sense of these feelings and how to make changes.

I have supported people with relationship difficulties,  anxiety, stress, loss and bereavement, low self-confidence, self-criticism, shame and low mood. I also have experience of supporting women (and men) affected by pregnancy loss, recurrent miscarriage and fertility difficulties within an NHS counselling service.

My background is in social work, where I gained over 20 years of experience working with adults affected by adverse childhood experiences, family relationship breakdown and the loss of attachment figures growing up. For many years during my social work career, I worked predominantly with adopted adults providing births records counselling and as an intermediary, supporting both adopted adults and birth family members.

I am a relational integrative therapist, which means I tailor my approach to each individual and use different therapeutic approaches depending on your needs and wants. My focus is on supporting you through our therapeutic relationship, to enable you to deepen your understanding and acceptance of yourself. I am a passionate advocate of therapy’s potential to support all of us to deepen our self-understanding and develop more compassionate ways of relating to ourselves and others.

If you have any questions or would like to arrange a free, no obligation introductory 30 minute face to face session, please do not hesitate to contact me.

gaylesykes1@outlook

Tel: 07535 175651