York Clinic

Val Wosket

Psychotherapy

I have 20 years experience as a therapist and currently work in private practice as a counsellor/psychotherapist and clinical supervisor here at the York Clinic for Complementary Medicine. I have worked for almost 20 years as a lecturer in counselling and supervision in a University setting and I now work as a freelance trainer and consultant. 

My approach to counselling and psychotherapy focuses on people’s strengths and helps them to develop resources and unused opportunities. I work in a collaborative way in that I view people as experts on their own experience and myself as a facilitator of the process of change. As a therapist I aspire to offer a therapeutic relationship that is warm, accepting and non-judgemental and in which people can be supported and challenged to find their own way forward and to work towards changes they would like to make.

As a Senior Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, I am bound by BACP’s Ethical Framework and Complaints Procedures. My background

I trained as a counsellor at York St John University (Advanced Diploma) and at Keele University (MA) before completing my PhD in counselling and supervision at Leeds University. More recently, I have completed the UK Society for the Study of Dissociation (UKSSD) psychotherapy training for working with complex dissociative disorders.

I have also completed a Diploma in Embodied Relational Therapy with Nick Totton and a Certificate in Somatic Trauma Therapy with Babette Rothschild at the Northern College for Body Psychotherapy. Both of these approaches pay attention to how emotional experience, including stress and trauma, is stored and communicated through the body.

I trained as a psychodynamic supervisor with the Westminster Pastoral Foundation (WPF). I am a member of the teaching faculty of UKSSD (www.ukssd.org) and a Registered Practitioner with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (www.bacp.co.uk). 

How I work
I originally trained in a cognitive-behavioural model of counselling and now work as an integrative, humanistic practitioner. This means that I negotiate to use a variety of techniques and strategies with the person having counselling and that paying attention to the quality of the relationship between us is central to the work.

The counselling process would normally follow three phases, which are: (i) to explore and understand the problem; (ii) to look at what the person would like to change or manage differently and (iii) to work together on strategies to bring about change. I work to both time-limited and open-ended contracts. As a therapist I work with a wide range of psychological and emotional issues and have particular expertise in the areas of loss/bereavement, sexual abuse and dissociation.

My training in Somatic Trauma Therapy is particularly useful in working with Post-Traumatic Stress and trauma. This approach involves both cognitive and body work (usually without using touch) and the emphasis is on gentle paced work that does not re-traumatise the client. The aim of therapy is to enable the client to psychologically resolve and integrate traumatic experience and restore lost physical reflexes. It does not involve ‘re-living’ the trauma and the focus of the work is on developing the client’s strengths and resources, establishing feelings of safety and restoring body-mind balance.

My supervision experience encompasses working with counsellors, psychotherapists, clinical and forensic psychologists, managers, drug and alcohol workers and alternative therapists. I regularly act as a trainer and consultant to counselling organisations in the UK and Ireland.

I have written several books and chapters on aspects of counselling, training and supervision, which are listed below. 

My fees for counselling for individuals:

Fees are negotiable within the following range:

£25.00 to £30.00 per hour – low to average income

£35.00 to £45.00 per hour – mid to high income

My fees for supervision are:

£25.00 – £55.00 per hour for individuals

£40.00 – £60.00 per hour for groups (group of 4 or less) My fees for counselling, training and consultancy for organisations:

Fees are agreed by negotiation with the organisation

Contact details

Appointments available at:
York Clinic for Complementary Medicine, 296 Tadcaster Road, York, YO24 1ET
Telephone 01904 709688
Website: www.yorktherapists.co.uk
Direct telephone: 07891 784158 (mobile)
Direct email: v.wosket@btinternet.com 

Publications

Wosket, V. (2006) Egan's Skilled Helper Model: Developments and Applications in Counselling, London: Routledge.

Wosket, V. (2006) ‘Gerard Egan’s Skilled Helper Model’, in C. Feltham, and I. Horton, (eds) Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy, second edition, London: Sage.

Wosket, V. (2006) 'Clinical Supervision', in C. Feltham, and I. Horton, (eds) Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy, second edition, London: Sage.

Page, S. and Wosket, V. (2001) Supervising the Counsellor: A Cyclical Model (second edition) London: Routledge [first published 1994].

Wosket, V. and Page, S. (2001) 'The Cyclical Model of Counsellor Supervision: A Container for Creativity and Chaos', M. Carroll and M. Tholstrup (eds) Integrative Approaches to Supervision, London: Jessica Kingsley.

Wosket, V. (2000) 'The interface between supervision and therapy in the supervision of experienced practitioners', in B. Lawton and C. Feltham (eds) Taking Supervision Forward: Enquiries and Trends in Counselling and Psychotherapy, London: Sage.

Wosket, V. (2000) 'Clinical Supervision', chapter in C. Feltham, and I. Horton, (eds) Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy, London: Sage.

Wosket, V. (1999) The Therapeutic Use of Self: Counselling Practice, Research and Supervision, London: Routledge.

Wosket, V. (1999) 'Integration and Eclecticism in Counselling Supervision', in S. Palmer and R. Woolfe (eds) Integrative and Eclectic Counselling and Psychotherapy, London: Sage.