Amanda Trotman

I am a fully qualified, registered and accredited Â鶹ԭ´´ Counsellor with over 15 years experience in the private, public and voluntary sector. 

Working from a central location in St Helier, I have experience in a wide range of issues and life circumstances examples of which are addiction, panic disorder, depression, anxiety, stress related disorders, relationship issues, anger management, bereavement, domestic abuse, trauma and matters relating to low self esteem and lack of confidence. 

 Working predominantly from the Person Centered approach, my aim is to provide a place where clients can freely express emotion and feeling without fear of judgement or opinion; a place where anything is welcome and the space exists for the client to explore their own questions and to find their own answers.

I am also an experienced and qualified trauma therapist trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) and IFS (Internal Family Systems). These approaches combined are proving increasingly effective in treating symptoms associated with both PTSD and C-PTSD as well as being generally helpful in building insight to our inner workings and outer behaviours.

Sessions last for around 50 minutes, the usual cost being £90 per session for Individuals and £100 for Couples. I also work with multi generational family members, the cost of which will be based on length of session. Concessions are available and can be discussed as part of the consultation.

I work using a variety of modalities and will discuss with you which approaches may provide the greatest benefit depending on your presenting issues and goals of therapy. 

Person-centred is my core training and remains at the heart of my practice. This is because it holds the therapeutic relationship as key to a successful, healing environment.

Trauma is often a reason as to why we seek therapy. This can be linked to a known event or experience or be a result of a sustained environment experienced as traumatic by the individual. I use EMDR - approved by NICE UK Guidelines- as a key therapeutic approach when this is appropriate. This provides a neuro-informed way of processing trauma that has otherwise become ‘stuck’ and an obstacle to our enjoyment of life in the present.

I am also trained in Systemic working through the Tavistock & Portman which means I use Systems thinking as a lens for all my work. Leading on from this, my more recent training has been in IFS (Internal Family Systems) which provides a framework for understanding ourselves as a multiplicity of Parts rather than trying to make sense of ourselves as a singularity. This is an increasingly popular modality as it can help make sense of why we sometimes do things that we later regret or can’t understand from a cognitive perspective.

Our first session will be used to collaboratively find a way forward that best suits you. It may be that one approach is an obvious fit or that we use a more integrative style to provide understanding and resolution for whatever you are coming for help with. 

My assessment style is fluid rather than formulaic so, other than an initial Statement of Understanding, there are no forms to complete or questionnaires to wade through. 

Every client is unique and sometimes just one or two sessions are enough to create a shift. For this reason, I don’t stipulate a minimum number of sessions and the frequency is also very much up to you and your needs.