The Awareness Centre

Jennifer has been a therapist to my son since he was in his early teens and has provided him and our family with valuable support throughout some difficult times for him. She built a great rapport with him straight away and it was very helpful for him to have someone he could trust and discuss topics with that he would not necessarily want to raise with his parents.

My son found school challenging and Jennifer helped him to navigate various difficult situations and ultimately to do well in his A Levels and make the move to university. Now, as an older teenager, he is able to recognise when he is starting to feel low and has been fortunate enough that Jennifer has been able to find availability to hold Zoom sessions with him whilst he is some distance away.

I would highly recommend Jennifer as a supportive and empathetic therapist for teenagers and young adults and also as someone who offers helpful suggestions, positive support and encouragement to the wider family.

The Awareness Centre is wonderful – I would recommend it to everyone! It is lovely and quiet and the receptionist is very nice. My counselling was great and I have really improved in myself. Thank you!

I found my time at The Awareness Centre quite revealing and so helpful in the long run. Philippa was so approachable, understanding and I felt a shift in my behaviour very quickly within a number of sessions. Where I have previously failed to make improvements or facilitate change with various different counsellors, I immediately felt able to express myself and voice my honest concerns. The environment was friendly and accessible, where before I’ve often found talking about problems clinical or forced. I’m really grateful for the sessions and the way they have enabled to cope better with my issues, in particular anxiety.

I was going through a troubling time after the epidemic and the lockdowns, which I had found very hard. I started seeing Karlene hoping to deal with the troubles that were at the “surface” level of my day to day thinking.

Karlene was calm, kind, non-judgemental but most of all an extremely skilled therapist. It turns out that the troubles that were at the “top level” of my brain were that – only the surface. I hadn’t been able to see this for myself, but Karlene very carefully and gently helped me to unpick this. There were layers to my issues, going back decades, which we began to peel back. I came to an understanding of certain events that had taken place in the past that were colouring my experience of the present.

Having this understanding is hugely helpful – I now have the ability to watch my own thought processes and understand when they are going down certain avenues coloured by past experiences, and to redirect where necessary.

I cannot recommend Karlene enough. Sometimes it is simply not possible to see beyond our own day to day thinking patterns, to begin to understand why we experience life or certain situations the way we do, without the help of a skilled “other”. For me, Karlene was exactly what I needed at that point in time, and I cannot thank her enough.

I have previously worked with a few different counsellors at various stages in my life and Emma is the counsellor that I have worked with most consistently. I feel comfortable and supported and we have discussed realistic options for what the sessions will achieve. Emma is compassionate and insightful. Moreover, I appreciate the different approaches she incorporates into our sessions, whether it be Mindfulness-based techniques or ACT. My experience in the sessions with Emma has been evolving based on the use of different approaches and she helps me feel confident in challenging my perspectives and opening out how I think about some things in my life.

Being able to voice views and ideas that are consistent to an unbiased person that can guide you along the way to piecing things together is possibly the best thing I’ve done.

Working with Sunah Ahktar has been an incredible, transformative experience. From the very first session, I felt heard, supported, and understood in a way that I had never experienced before. She created a safe, non-judgmental space where I could open up about my challenges, and her empathetic and insightful approach helped me navigate through them with greater clarity and confidence.

Not only did Sunah Ahktar provide me with practical tools and strategies to manage my mental health, but she also empowered me to develop a deeper understanding of myself. The progress I’ve made during our sessions has been life-changing.

I am deeply grateful for her kindness, professionalism, and dedication to my well-being, and I highly recommend Sunah Ahktar to anyone seeking compassionate and effective therapy.

I started to visit Riana on a weekly basis at a very low point – and when I had run out of tools to help myself independently. Almost two year later, and Riana has helped me navigate some massive changes in my life, such as a new job, mending rifts with family and friends, and embarking on a new relationship – each change coming with its own unique challenges, and learning a lot about myself in the process. Riana met my issues with patience and wisdom and allowed me to find inner strength by being a source of stability for me when I felt life was turned upside down. I thoroughly recommend Riana and The Awareness Centre – thank you!