Practice OPEN during Covid-19 in person - safety measures in place - by phone + Skype
Nicola Richter
for over 20 years your psychotherapy & counselling service in
St Albans
call in confidence: (01727) 750088
About me:
Here for you with heart and soul
I offer you a friendly, genuine, professional and very experienced & effective service.
My interactive approach, is tailored to your individual needs to help you to: understand yourself and others more fully, work through pain and patterns, make the changes in your feelings and thinking and behaviour, which you want to make.
Experience
• You are in safe hands: as I have over 25 years of experience of making a difference to peoples lives • You can be assured by my credentials: I am a senior BACP accredited counsellor and psychotherapist, registered with UKCP, with a Masters in Psychology • In addition you get from me up-to-date knowledge, as I train others in counselling and psychotherapy as senior lecturer at University and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy • Plus: with me you can get to work with a whole-hearted professional: I am immersed in the field, e.g. also through presenting at national and international conferences (Australia, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, USA, +online).
You are Unique
Above all: I am human and talk with you in a warm, sensitive, compassionate and natural way. For me you are not a standard 'case', you are a unique person. I am here to help you, to access your own inner potential, to understand your life's lessons, to find your own answers and to experience deep contentment in living the life you know you could live.
Corona and Psychotherapy in Challenging Times
My Personal Message to you about Covid-19 and world events
The events which have unfolded over the past two years affect us in different ways:
Some of us feel unsettled, worried and anxious for themselves or for the lives of family and friends with underlying health-issues. Some sadly have lost a loved one through Covid-19, others sadly lost a loved one through vaccine complications.
My deepest condolences and sympathies to all who are affected.
Some feel comforted by facts such as: in 2020 the average age of someone dying in England with Covid was 83 years old, with an average life-expectancy of 81.26 years (in 2018).
Some feel puzzled about the focus of the world upon Covid-19, when during the same time far more people die e.g. through smoking, or alcohol, heart-attacks, cancer. Understaffed and underfunded health services result in delayed diagnosis or treatment causing further pain for far too many.
Some people feel angry as they lost trust in politicians and media to tell the facts, e.g. given that some of the statistics don’t make sense, with reports of increases in cases in the UK, compared to times when far less tests were done; or puzzled when comparing the deaths of 2020 to those of 2021, why worldwide since the begin of vaccinations the number of deaths did not decline but even increased by 50%.
Some feel saddened, that the media focus upon 'cases' and 'deaths' but leave out to mention that over 99% of the population is healthy - as if health has been taken out of the equation. Some wonder where is the humanity in ‘cases’ when we do not talk about human beings.
Others feel a weird sense of calm and relief that something had to change in our world with its focus upon material things, and finding themselves less interested in consumerism.
Some embark on practicing mindfulness, endeavouring to come away from these times with meaningful insights about the lives we live and take at times for granted. Some feel a sense of increasing care and concern emerging for our planet, for humankind, for loved ones and for more balance within ourselves.
Many more feelings are evoked, including opposing feelings and feelings of division.
Some of us feel a mixture of the above.
With this message I would like to reassure you, that during these intense times I remain committed to the work I love, to working with you.
Your well-being and safety are central and at the heart of my decision making.
Currently (January 2022) I offer you appointments IN PERSON - with adherence to government safety guidelines and best practice measures in place (more details will be sent before you arrange an appointment) and appointments can also be BY SKYPE.
I continue to be committed to equality: of race, religion, sexual orientation, health choices, philosophy of life, ...
And I am here to assist you in making the choices which are right for you, to assist you to fulfil your potential and actualise who you really are.
Keep looking after yourself and others, keep connecting with yourself, others and nature,
Warmly,
N i c o l a
Putting your mind at ease during Coronavirus
Our sessions during Coronavirus
Our sessions during Coronavirus
Our sessions during Coronavirus
For your peace of mind I want you to know: To my knowledge I have not had any symptoms of the coronavirus (or other contagious disease). I feel very healthy and in balance of body-mind-spirit, looking after my wellbeing and am happy to continue our sessions in person (safety measures in place), or if you prefer by Skype.
How to arrange a session
Our sessions during Coronavirus
Our sessions during Coronavirus
Please call me on: 01727-750088 or
email me on: nicolarichter@yahoo.com to arrange for a session to take place
in person or via Skype.
My practice is open for anyone, vaccinated or not vaccinated. Your personal choices matter here!
For Skype sessions
Our sessions during Coronavirus
Speaking in confidence via video call
If you are unable to find a place to yourself where you can’t be overheard by others, you might consider e.g. a garage, garden-shed, or your car – an option others have taken in the past.
If you can’t think of ways to make it work, call me and we can discuss your options and best way forward.
Speaking in confidence via video call
Making yourself and your session a priority
Speaking in confidence via video call
Please make sure that you are in a room where you can not be overheard or disturbed by others. Reason for this: to create an environment of confidentiality for you to feel safe and comfortable to speak with me about anything in your session much the same way as you do when we meet face-to-face.
In person sessions are currently possible and I will email you the safety measures before the first session, so you can make an informed choice should you prefer video sessions.
Making yourself and your session a priority
Making yourself and your session a priority
Making yourself and your session a priority
To emulate the in-person experience you may find it helpful to not smoke during your session time and not watch the TV or computer in the background. This is not a chit chat, this is your therapeutic session. In turn, I will be sitting in the consulting room on the same place as always.
Should you have booked a couple-/joint-session and you are at different places, we can have a conference Skype call. I have good experiences with others of this option.
Be reassured
Making yourself and your session a priority
Making yourself and your session a priority
Throughout my therapeutic work of over 25 years, I have followed strict guidelines for hygiene, safety, respect and well-being.
Currently I’ve added: an air-purifier in the consulting-room (which claims to have caught 99.97% of the H1N1 virus), one-use plant-based recyclable cups, hand-sanitizer at the entrance and two in the consulting room and a bowl for receiving your payment.
General Well-Being Measures
Promoting your well-being during challenging times
Some people have asked me for advice, what you could do to stay safe. Use your common sense. Consider the guidelines as given by the government. Consult your GP, NHS information and your pharmacist as well as alternative places of information. I am not in a position to provide medical advice, as I am not a medically trained professional. I studied some Health Psychology during my Masters in Psychology as it is in my view important to have a holistic attitude to mental health.
Hence here some general comments about measures, which research I have come across over the years, has indicated to be useful for peoples overall well-being. Please note, that none of this is directly aimed at you personally and you should consult your GP, and your overall life-experience, also: none of this is proven to be useful for the coronavirus and is not targeted at this specifically, again, please consult your doctor or pharmacists or the NHS helpline on 111.
Research on well-being indicates that diminished physical health can impact our mental well-being and vice versa: feeling mentally unwell can impact our physical health. The immune system is often described as playing a key role. A whole field of research is dedicated to this, called: psychoimmunology. Helping and promoting our immune system can help us physically and psychologically and make us more resilient. I am happy to explore with you your thoughts and ponderings on how you can improve your overall well-being.
My experience especially over the past two years has shown, that it can be useful to be on a ‘news-diet’ – by the way in the UK over 680 different newspapers are sold, many daily or weekly, mostly reporting on doom and gloom and crimes and something negative. There is only one tiny ‘positive news’ newspaper. The human mind has a tendency to focus upon the negative. Hence its helpful to limit exposure to negative news. During these past two years many of my clients found it helpful to embark on old – or new – activities, e.g.: learning a language, dancing, watching comedy, going for walks, helping the elderly, …
Whilst hygiene and mindful distancing have their place, in well-being research I have consulted, what strikes me most is: the interaction of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual/ transpersonal/ metaphysical well-being.
Wellbeing paths - tested by research, myself & many of you
Physical Wellbeing
Emotional Wellbeing
Emotional Wellbeing
- getting sufficient and restful sleep!!!
- stress reduction e.g. through organising schedules more realistically
- exercise e.g. running, gym, weights, swimming
- relaxation - breathing-exercises; massage; sauna
- nutrition – reduction in sugar – e.g. some cells which destroy our bodies feed on sugar; keeping the pH alkaline – e.g. many viruses don’t like alkaline environments;
- healthy gut – it affects our immune system, e.g. probiotics could be useful here
- keeping ‘toxins’ low – this includes electro-smog, tobacco, alcohol, drugs
- looking after some of your basic needs, e.g. getting hearing aids, glasses if you need them
Emotional Wellbeing
Emotional Wellbeing
Emotional Wellbeing
- making ‘me’-time, time for yourself where you can be a ‘human being’ as opposed to a ‘human doing’
- socialising with friends – could now be virtually
- group-activities – pursuing an interest such as archery, movie-nights in a group, …
- being in nature and connecting with it – in my MA research many participants found that being in nature gave them ‘meaning in life’ and ‘inner strength’
- dancing - engages our body and mind and provides social interaction, together providing often more joy than we expected
- laughter - going out to be distracted and surprised by comedians, or watching them on video, often we can forget ourselves for moments, which provide inroads of change
- counselling and psychotherapy
More useful Well-Being measures
Mental Wellbeing
Spiritual/transpersonal/metaphysical Wellbeing
Spiritual/transpersonal/metaphysical Wellbeing
- writing bothersome thoughts down can bring order into thinking
- counselling and psychotherapy
- planning the week’s task in a !!!realistic!!!* manner and daily checking what you accomplished gives a sense of satisfaction and achievement. *Unrealistic goals, chasing what we ‘ideally’ wish to ‘get done’ has a tendency to burden us, resulting often in putting ourselves down
- improve your self-confidence – e.g. learning new achievable things can be helpful here; generally accomplishing small things step by step brings us further
- learning new things - discussion groups, learning a language
- developing ‘rituals’/rhythms – so the mind can stop thinking over and over about the same processes
- asking for help
- volunteering
- improving your environment – e.g. declutter your (computer)desk, surrounding yourself with photos of people close to you and things which give you joy
Spiritual/transpersonal/metaphysical Wellbeing
Spiritual/transpersonal/metaphysical Wellbeing
Spiritual/transpersonal/metaphysical Wellbeing
- practicing mindfulness
- meditation – there are many different forms we can discuss which might fit you
- exercise with awareness – e.g. Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong
- connect with nature
- prayer
- music – choir, mantra singing, chanting
- inspirational talks e.g. on TedTalk, youTube, let me know what you might resonate with and maybe I can assist you in finding some gems on the internet
- I practice what I recommend - I have been practicing for over 40 years mindfulness and currently practice daily about 2 hours yoga and meditation.
Private Insurances Approved
Registered health care provider for several insurances
In addition to offering you my services in private practice, I am also registered health care provider in psychotherapy for several MEDICAL HEALTHCARE INSURANCES:
• Aviva
• AXA
• Cigna
• Exeter Family Friendly
• Helix Health
• Vitality Health (formerly: PruHealth)
• WPA and WPA Protocol
Please make sure you arrange with your insurance the referral details.
Other private insurers
Please ask me about other insurances, we might be able realively swiftly to arrange insurance cover for sessions with me.