Claire Matin

Claire is a trainee integrative counsellor and is registered with the BACP. She is working towards her Diploma in Integrative Counselling at The Awareness Centre and works within their low-cost counselling service online.

Her approach is warm, relational and grounded in compassion. She believes that therapy is most effective when clients feel safe, heard and understood, and that meaningful change can emerge through both insight and connection. She works collaboratively with clients, supporting them to explore their experiences at their own pace, strengthen self-awareness and build on their existing strengths, while offering gentle challenge were helpful.

Claire has experience of providing emotional support as a volunteer listener on a confidential helpline, counsellor within NHS Talking Therapies, alongside working in a Low-cost counselling service. She has a particular interest in supporting clients experiencing low self-worth, anxiety, stress, low mood, family and relationship difficulties, and life transitions. She is passionate about helping people develop a more compassionate and understanding relationship with themselves. Whether clients are feeling stuck, overwhelmed, uncertain where to begin, or struggling with painful and complex thoughts and feelings, Claire believes these challenges need not be faced alone.

Working in an integrative way that is rooted in the person-centred ethos that clients’ realities, wants, needs and feelings are at the core of the work, Claire creates a space for clients to reconnect with themselves and their capacity to heal. She draws on a range of therapeutic approaches to meet the individual needs of each client. These may include exploring the past to help clients understand themselves better and make more conscious choices, identifying relational patterns and dynamics, or building on strengths and resources to work towards hopes for the future. Central to her work is fostering a strong therapeutic relationship, believing that a sense of connection, trust and support is the cornerstone of healing and personal growth.

Claire has spent over 25 years working within the travel industry. Alongside an undergraduate degree in social anthropology and extensive experience of living and working in diverse contexts, this has given her an understanding of how mental wellbeing is embedded within the broader context of culture, relationships, and wider social influences. She is committed to offering a culturally sensitive, inclusive and non-judgemental space, valuing each client’s unique experiences and distinct sense of self and belonging in the world.