Philip Melaney, Counsellor in Bristol ,

My name is Philip and I am a qualified counsellor and working face to face with adults and young people (18+) in the Bristol area. I practice humanistic and integrative counselling, which means my work is focussed upon your current needs while helping you to understand and work through how you experience yourself and the world. This always involves working with the past to some extent, as that is where much of who we have become originates. But we do this while remaining firmly in the present, focussing on building new ways of connecting with ourselves and the world. I am happy to discuss this with you in more detail.

I understand that choosing to consider counselling can be a courageous and difficult decision and I offer a confidential and safe space to explore what you are experiencing in life. I am experienced working with long term anxiety and relationship issues, bereavement, depression, loneliness, addiction, sexuality and issues of identity. 

We often become more aware of ourselves with respect to our ability to form and maintain healthy relationships, either at work or in our personal lives. It is in relationship that we are formed and it is through relationship that we notice ourselves and eventually heal ourselves. This is the essence of counselling and psychotherapy. In today’s often harsh society, therapy can offer a way to begin to change how we think and feel about ourselves in relationship and start to live life more fully.

Therapy is a gradual process of understanding ourselves and our responses to life, by carefully working through thoughts, feelings and behaviours that are troubling and burdensome. As your guide through this very personal territory, I will help you to understand and work with these often ‘stuck’ or recurring feelings so that they lose their power and hold over you. This is what counselling calls ‘integrating our emotions’ and helps us to move on in life. It is a process that always involves working with another person which is why your choice of therapist is so important.

Neuroscience tells us that lasting change is possible at any time of life and I encourage people considering therapy to think about the kind of person they might feel most comfortable to be with during this process of change; be it a man or a woman, and to consider the possibility of seeing a few people before making your decision and committing to one therapist. There is no ‘one size fits all’ as there is no fixed time frame for therapy. You as the client, will know when it’s time to end and the choice is always yours to make.

I practice in Southville and Old Market and my fees are £45 per session with a reduced first session of £25. Each session is 50 minutes long. If you feel that therapy might be helpful and you would like to learn more, you can write to me at: pkmel@proton.me