WELCOME

My name is Dorota and I want to invite you to my counselling journey.
I am a well qualified and experienced counsellor and therapist.
I qualified in Poland and worked there as a counsellor with adolescents addicted to drugs and alcohol, sexually abused, bullied, with learning disabilities, and those experiencing poverty and domestic abuse. I led therapies for my service users and their families, and I was a successful counsellor, awarded three years in a row for taking, on my initiatives, actions aimed to prevent and combat symptoms of pathology among youngsters; to arrange a collaboration of the school with different organisations and associations in the realm of preventing social pathology inadequacy of young people; and to provide aid and care for adolescents experiencing difficult situations. I have also been awarded for taking action for the implementation of innovative methods regarding education and prevention.

Because of some personal circumstances, I moved to the UK in 2014 and gave up my counselling role. I assumed, I needed time to adapt to the new circumstances, develop my knowledge and skills, get to know the English social care and mental health settings and familiarise myself with how the system works. This was the reason I decided to work in different mental health settings, where I have gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in caring for others. I use my knowledge and extended experience to help and provide person-centred care for my clients as a counsellor. I have been working full-time in different hospitals, on different wards within Somerset and Devon Partnership NHS Trust. I have seen a lot and met so many service users experiencing severe depression, suicidal ideation, or even attempting to end their lives. I had to react immediately to save people's lives but also, this experience has taught me how to deal with extremely depressed or emotionally unstable individuals. Being around these people made me realise that each of us can at some point face distress, trauma, various difficulties, and complex situations. Complications can arise at any stage, so people can easily struggle with their mental health. Right here, working in a mental heth environment, I gained the knowledge of how important it is to have someone to just be present, to talk to, to support you and to be listened to. Counselling is not just a profession; it is a vocation to serve people in need. For me, it is my passion.
Being from a Polish background and having the ability to speak Polish and Russian, I would also like to provide a multi-cultural supportive service to those who are from Eastern European countries and to those who cannot communicate their feelings and needs in English. While working in mental hospitals for Devon Partnership NHS Trust, I have met multiple service users who, especially when unwell, were not able to speak English. Even those clients who could speak English very well preferred to communicate in their native language as it was a language of emotions and feelings for them and they found it easier to express themselves and find the underlying cause of the problem in their native language.
I want to be a good change and make good changes in people's lives. Let's do it together.

My qualifications:
- Master degree in Care and Counselling
- Postgraduate studies within the scope of therapy
- Bachelor degree in English philology
- Registered Member of British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP 401273), bound by its Code of Ethics & Practice and Complaints Procedure