Central Psychotherapy About

About me

About Me

Ashley Fletcher: Dip. Couns. Accred. Cert. Supervision, MBACP, UKRCP (*)

Ashley has spent 30 years working in the NHS and Voluntary Sector managing community-based services, particularly with LGBT communities, refugees and asylum seekers and with people living with HIV.

He is a published author, contributing to books on the Person Centred approach with young people and on therapeutic working with survivors of torture. He has been a trainer throughout his career and a qualified practicing psychotherapist since 2003.

Organisations he has worked for include Nottinghamshire Rights Council; Nottingham AIDS Information Project; Family First, Nottingham NHS Trust; George House Trust; Essence Counselling; Alzheimer’s Society; Assist UK; Beacon Counselling and Freedom from Torture.

In  the early 1980’s,  I was drawn to volunteering in human rights organisations developing a community response to the HIV pandemic.  I chose to train as a counsellor to enhance what I felt were my innate skills for relationship and communication.

Having first qualified in 1988,  I used and developed my counselling skills in the voluntary sector and the NHS. During that time I worked in mental health, youth and addiction services, sexual health and HIV.

I have been a qualified practicing psychotherapist working continuously for the last 15 years, focusing initially on bereavement, disability and depression.

For the last decade, I have specialised in complex trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) working with survivors of torture and organised violence.

I am an accredited and Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (RMBACP). and a qualified Supervisor for Counselling and the helping professions. I have trained in Co-Counselling, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Exposure Therapy and am a qualified practitioner of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing).

My approach is called ‘Person’ or ‘Client Centred’. This approach, founded 70 years ago by Carl Rogers puts you, the client, at the centre of therapy, not the counsellor as ‘expert’. The expert on you, is you.  It follows your agenda, not the counsellors, and does not seek to lead, diagnose, control, label or judge.

This therapeutic relationship provides enables exploration, reflection, change and growth on your terms and at your pace in a safe, structured environment.

It provides a unique opportunity to have time and attention focused on you. A space controlled and determined by you in relationship with your counsellor.

I provide high quality, professional and tailored non-managerial support supervision, individual or group, to counsellors and other practitioners in the helping professions.

In a high pressure, high stress working environment, the attritional wear and tear on the wellbeing of individual staff can often be lost in ‘habits’ and organizational culture of coping. Supervision provides a unique, confidential and supported space to explore, develop, process and resolve this impact.  Supervision and counselling are very different concepts. What links the two themes is the approach taken, which in this case is ‘Rogerian’ or Person Centred.

The supervision itself would focus on the nature and impact of the work, helping to identify problems and explore effective solutions from a personal and a professional point of view, with due consideration to ethical and professional practice, and the potential impact on the well-being and safety of clients.

Supervision identifies both personal and managerial strategies for dealing with the pressure and challenges of client work. The approach is tailored to the needs and ways each person works best with, as identified in the initial one to one contracting session.

I have over 30 years experience in providing training to diverse communities of individuals and to organisations and professional bodies on a wide range of organizational, management, human, community, employment and social issues, including:

  1. Disability Awareness
  2. Understanding Self Harm
  3. How Discrimination Works
  4. Heterosexism and Homophobia
  5. Working with marginalised Communities
  6. LGBTQI Awareness
  7. Interpersonal Dynamics
  8. Drugs and Drug Awareness
  9. HIV and Sexual health
  10. Sexism and Gender Awareness
  11. Assertiveness
  12. Basic Counselling Skills
  13. Organizational and service development
  14. Management issues and team dynamics
  15. Reflexive practice and ending with clients.
  16. Working with a Human Rights approach.

This training has been delivered to doctors, nurses and other health and social care professionals, as wells as to students, volunteers and voluntary organisations. Packages can be tailor made to you or your organisations requirements. I also provide 1:1 Consultative Developmental Supervision for people starting new projects and initiatives.

TESTIMONIALS

“It sounds odd but I feel uncomfortable in a good way, like something has happened.  I’ve been to therapists before and come away feeling nothing, wondering why I’d gone.”

Counselling Client

“…you wrap me gently against the cold and stride beside me as I gallop ahead not looking for the fall.”

Counselling Client

“I don’t know how to thank you enough. My life was over and I never thought I would get it back. There are still struggles but I have a life again.”

Counselling Client
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“Thank you for being a wonderful supervisor…you helped me grow and reach for the light when all I could see was dark clouds. I couldn’t have been where I am without your support.”

Supervisee

“I didn’t expect that to come out…thank you for helping me function.”

Counselling Client

“I’ve left…where you were my supervisor from 2012 to 2015 and am working part-time as a counsellor at University. I still miss our supervision sessions – they were really challenging but so helpful!”

Counselling Supervisee

“The subject was challenging and made me reflect a lot on myself and my practice with vulnerable clients. It was delivered in an accessible and supportive style and I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learnt.”

Training Participant
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“Thank you for being a great supervisor! I have really appreciated your perspective…quite different from other inputs I’ve been getting which has admittedly made things tricky! But I feel like you’ve kept me in touch with what is really important and am very glad I’ve had this experience.”

Supervisee
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“I feel I am finally really making progress and I think it’s thanks to you I can see the causes of my problems.”

Counselling Client

“With you my supervision was different, I learned so much and felt so inspired.”

Counselling Supervisee

“It was so helpful and showed me a way how to survive the pressure. With that help I was able to get my work to make reasonable adjustments which they had been reluctant to do.”

Mentoring Client (female)

“I still remember some key things we explored in our supervision sessions which have informed my practice as an integrative therapist with a strong person-centered core base. “

Supervisee