First a bit of info

My real name is Amanda, but everyone (apart from my parents) calls me Sam. I tell you this because if you check me out through BACP (and you probably should!) I’m registered under my formal name of Amanda Hughes!

I'm a registered member, registration number 389285.

If you would like confirmation my profile can be found using the following link: https://www.bacp.co.uk/

Why did I become a counsellor?

This is the bit I find really difficult to do – but I want to try to give you a snapshot of why I became a counsellor.

I really enjoy people’s company and have always been interested in working with and helping people. Even as a child I used to hog the phone at night listening to a friend’s problems.

Eventually I got a job working in a large corporate organisation and progressed through the ranks – and realised that my favourite part of various roles was building teams and working with individuals to help them develop – and working with the team to develop them as a high functioning group too.

During my time as a manager, I had people in my team who went through some awful personal circumstances. We were fortunate enough to have a counselling service we could refer people to. Whilst the service was of course totally confidential and so I have no idea what happened between the client and counsellor, I saw the outcome - individuals settled, back at work refocussed and moving on. Two of the people who had undergone this counselling did speak to me afterwards – to thank me for the opportunity. They said it was a tough process but life changing. The experience had allowed them to be better at work but importantly at home too.

It was speaking to one of these people (who initially was not in a good way at all) after their counselling, that I decided that I too wanted to be able to do this.

Getting qualified

I left the job that I had thoroughly enjoyed to do counselling training – all 4 years of it - and achieved my level 4 diploma in counselling practice – the “passport” to being able to call myself a qualified counsellor. As part of my training, I was privileged to be offered a placement counselling NHS staff – something I have continued with beyond gaining the 100 hours required for my course.

Going Forward

I have now seen, through my clients, the change counselling can bring about. Seeing improvement in people’s lives is extremely rewarding and I hope to continue helping people move through whatever their issues are.

For info

• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) - 389285
• Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - A8955907