Background
I've worked in the 'caring professions' since finishing an English degree in the 1990s.
Initially this was within the homelessness, mental health and substance misuse fields.
I then qualified as a counsellor in 2004, having completed an Advanced Diploma in Gestalt Counselling at Fareham College.
One 'specialism' since then has been working with teenagers and parents and carers of teenagers. This has included schools counselling and for some years a family liaison role at a Pupil Referral Unit. I have facilitated parenting programmes such as 'Tuning into Teens', and provided relevant training to colleagues.
Concerns I've worked on with adult clients include anxiety (feelings of worry or preoccupation), low mood (incl. feeling unfulfilled, empty or directionless), anger (which may link to previous events in your life), life changes (incl. education, university, work or career change), personal development (incl. self-awareness, being the best you can be).
Concerns I've worked on with teenage clients include anxiety, anger, low mood, questions of identity, life purpose, friendship struggles, social life, difficulties between teenagers and parents or carers, peer difficulties etc.
I'm interested in links between therapy and culture (esp. films, science fiction etc) – for example, I've written for a counselling journal about what parents, counsellors and others can learn from 'coming of age' cinema. Following this, I wrote specifically about 'coming of age' films which foreground LGBTQ+ characters, stories and themes, also being interviewed about this for a BACP podcast. I regularly review books for Therapy Today.
I then qualified as a counsellor in 2004, having completed an Advanced Diploma in Gestalt Counselling at Fareham College.
One 'specialism' since then has been working with teenagers and parents and carers of teenagers. This has included schools counselling and for some years a family liaison role at a Pupil Referral Unit. I have facilitated parenting programmes such as 'Tuning into Teens', and provided relevant training to colleagues.
Concerns I've worked on with adult clients include anxiety (feelings of worry or preoccupation), low mood (incl. feeling unfulfilled, empty or directionless), anger (which may link to previous events in your life), life changes (incl. education, university, work or career change), personal development (incl. self-awareness, being the best you can be).
Concerns I've worked on with teenage clients include anxiety, anger, low mood, questions of identity, life purpose, friendship struggles, social life, difficulties between teenagers and parents or carers, peer difficulties etc.
I'm interested in links between therapy and culture (esp. films, science fiction etc) – for example, I've written for a counselling journal about what parents, counsellors and others can learn from 'coming of age' cinema. Following this, I wrote specifically about 'coming of age' films which foreground LGBTQ+ characters, stories and themes, also being interviewed about this for a BACP podcast. I regularly review books for Therapy Today.
I provide LGBTQ+ affirmative counselling, which includes remaining mindful of ways in which 'false binaries' ("everyone is either gay or straight", "everyone is either male or female") can fail to match the complexity of real life, and can therefore be experienced as false, oppressive and limiting. I have completed a Trans Awareness course for practitioners and will be undertaking further training this autumn.
I am a Christian (married to a member of the Church of England clergy), committed to a liberal, inclusive view of what faith means and involves. I have a strong track record of working with those who hold to various faiths and beliefs. This includes those who struggle with, or are ambivalent or unsure about faith, as well as agnostics and atheists. It also includes those who, while experiencing themselves as 'people of faith', have felt marginalised or oppressed within organised religious structures.
I grew up in Leeds and have recently moved from Somerset to South West London.
Click here for details of times, fees etc or here to call or email.
I am a Christian (married to a member of the Church of England clergy), committed to a liberal, inclusive view of what faith means and involves. I have a strong track record of working with those who hold to various faiths and beliefs. This includes those who struggle with, or are ambivalent or unsure about faith, as well as agnostics and atheists. It also includes those who, while experiencing themselves as 'people of faith', have felt marginalised or oppressed within organised religious structures.
I grew up in Leeds and have recently moved from Somerset to South West London.
Click here for details of times, fees etc or here to call or email.
© David Curl Counselling 2022