News

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Emma Hardy, MP for Hull West and Hessle, visited our new premises on Nelson Street. The visit provided a great opportunity to update Emma about our exciting plans to expand our provision of NHS Talking Therapies services to the local community. Here’s what Emma had to say about the visit: “As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, I was pleased to meet with Focus Counselling to see the premises for their new head offices in the Fruit Market. They plan to develop a vacant old building into a counselling hub for NHS patients [...]

Registration Now Open! We're pleased to say that, after the success of our first two online counselling courses, registration is now open for our next online Level 1 and Level 2 counselling courses. Whether you're looking to improve your listening skills or looking for a career change, start your training journey with one of the region's most reputable counselling training providers! Course: Level 1 Introduction to Counselling Skills Venue: Online via Microsoft Teams Tutor: Chantal Shires Start Date: Monday 13th September 2021 Time: 5.15pm - 8.15pm Duration: 7 weeks Cost: £125 Course: Level 2 Award in Counselling Skills Venue: Online [...]

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, we have been working hard behind the scenes to develop our online learning experience, in order to continue offering our levels one and two counselling courses. We are delighted to announce that our new, online courses are now up and running! We have aimed to replicate the format of our face-to-face courses in order to provide an experiential learning journey for our students. The online format brings together a blend of taught theory, group exercises, discussion and, of course, skills practice. Students also receive access to a range of additional learning resources via our learning [...]

To support National Psychotherapy Day our Clinical Director, Peter Palumbo, shares his heartwarming journey to becoming a counsellor, Samaritan and UKCP registered gestalt psychotherapist. Peter shares how he attended a beginners counselling course initially to support a friend who didn't want to go alone. The experience proved life-changing for Peter and the journey of self-discovery and learning is something he continues to pursue with great passion today. You can watch Peter's short film on our YouTube channel here! If you are interested in beginning the journey to becoming a counsellor or psychotherapist, Focus offers counselling courses from beginner to intermediate [...]

  This month's 'featured clinician' is Jo Morton. Jo is a qualified Integrative Counsellor and a Registered Member of the BACP. Read more about Jo below... What inspired you to become a therapist? I noticed from an early age that people always confided in me and my previous role as a midwife required being able to listen and support women and their families in difficult times. I am very much a people person.  My own personal experience of therapy taught me how life changing it can be, so I retrained and absolutely love what I do. What do you love [...]

For many of us, living through a pandemic will be one of the most significant events we will experience, where 'life as we know it' completely changes. The Government's imposed restrictions on day-to-day life, whilst necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19, can have significant effects on our mental health. You may begin to experience boredom, frustration, increased anxiety and worries, and miss connecting with the people in your life face-to-face. Here, we have gathered together a range of resources to help you through it: Telephone Therapy Talking to an experienced professional can help. Focus are continuing to offer a [...]

Upcoming CPD - Shame Along Stigmatised Death Shame in therapy is one of the most debilitating emotions clients can experience. Through the power of one woman’s story following a stigmatised death, through this interactive workshop, we will consider the impact of shame and how as therapists we can enable our clients to emerge from the shadows of shame and engage with life. About the Trainers Trish is a BACP accredited psychotherapist, qualified supervisor and trainer. Trish has a special interest in grief and loss and many years of experience, working within the learning and sensory disabled community. Marcia is also [...]

Upcoming CPD - Shame Along Stigmatised Death Shame in therapy is one of the most debilitating emotions clients can experience. Through the power of one woman’s story following a stigmatised death, through this interactive workshop, we will consider the impact of shame and how as therapists we can enable our clients to emerge from the shadows of shame and engage with life. About the Trainers Trish is a BACP accredited psychotherapist, qualified supervisor and trainer. Trish has a special interest in grief and loss and many years of experience, working within the learning and sensory disabled community. Marcia is also [...]

Upcoming CPD - DIT and Depression During this one day workshop we will explore different types of depression, to aid this we will look at DSM diagnostic criteria for depression as well as case examples from clinical work. We will then move onto explore Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, the rationale for D.I.T along with its treatment methods and principles. We will also look at some recent studies into the effectiveness of treating depression with modalities other than CBT. About the Trainer Malcolm is a UKCP group analytic psychotherapist. He has a background in working in addiction treatment services and then in [...]

Getting closer to opening! The buzz is growing here at Focus as our new Beverley centre gets ever closer to completion. Happily, we're on course for a September/October launch and we'll be looking to mark the occasion with a launch event in the near future. Details will be published here, so keep checking-in for updates! The Beverley launch will be a significant milestone for Focus. It will help us fulfil our objective to expand our reach into the East Riding, offering high-quality services to more people across a wider area. The centre will have 9 rooms, 3 of which will [...]