Loraine Donnelly Counselling Service

Counselling offers a space for you to explore your issues in confidence, safety, and trust.

About Me

I have over 7 years of experience counselling in both the voluntary and statutory sectors. Within this time I have worked with a wide range of people who have had difficulty finding a sense of peace and contentment in their lives. I began my journey to become a counsellor with a passion for mental health issues and a desire to walk beside those who were on the path to helping themselves gain mental well-being.
What to expect

The majority of my clients are unsure of the counselling process when they first arrive. Counselling offers a space for you to explore your issues in confidence, safety, and trust.
My approach is integrative, the focus being on client-centered therapy, which is also known as person-centered, non-directive, or Rogerian therapy. This is a counselling approach that requires the client to take an active role in his or her treatment with the therapist being non-directive and supportive. In client-centered therapy, the client determines the course and direction of treatment while the therapist clarifies the client's responses to promote self-understanding.
Since every client’s needs are unique, I can also tailor my approach to offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and /or Brief Solution Focused Therapy. This integrative approach allows for open-ended therapy or short-term therapy as required.
The goals of client-centered therapy are to increase self-esteem and openness to experience. Client-centered therapists work to help clients lead full lives of self-understanding, reduction in defensiveness, guilt, and insecurity as well as more positive and comfortable relationships with others and an increased capacity to experience and express their feelings.

Qualifications

MSc Counselling and Therapeutic Communication
CPCAB Level 5 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
AQA Level 4 Mental Health First Aid training
AQA Level 4 Working with Trauma
OCNW Level 2 Bereavement Care at Cruse NI
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
Member of British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)

Experience

I have gained professional experience working with a wide range of complex emotional and mental health issues including:
Depression, anxiety, relationship issues, self-esteem issues, anger management, childhood issues, stress, abuse, trauma recovery, grief-counselling, working with vulnerable adults and children with special needs, crisis intervention and suicide prevention.


My practice is currently based in Maitri Studio, 4 The Mount, Belfast BT5 4NA.