Are you struggling with a recent or past life event? Do you feel this is affecting aspects of your personal, work, or social life? Are you looking to explore your personal ambitions, goal setting, and achievements? Would you benefit from examining your personal development, commitment, or relationship patterns? Counselling can help you to take a step back and look at the direction your life is going; any changes you may want to make; how you can implement those changes and how you can achieve your aspirations

My name is Lesley Strabel, and I am the founder of Aspirations Counselling Service. I am a compassionate, empathic counsellor who strives to understand the experiences and events that form ‘your world'. I can help you explore your past and current difficulties. Then support you in the acquisition of new perspectives, and the development of the skills you need to overcome them and achieve your aspirations.

I offer face to face counselling sessions, in comfortable rooms, in Barry, Cardiff, Cowbridge, and Newport.

I work from a humanistic/existential approach. The aim of which is to support and enable you to find the strength to overcome any difficulties you may face in your own unique way, after all, you are the expert on you. I see the therapeutic relationship as the foundation of our work together, providing a solid, secure base, from which to explore your difficulties. Existential counselling allows you to focus upon the here and now, and live your life in the present. I strongly believe in the need for, and provision of, a safe and confidential space to allow you to be who you truly are. Our therapeutic relationship will allow you the opportunity to talk openly about your issues without judgement or prejudice, to feel understood, and be supported throughout.

Working together as equals, the therapeutic relationship that we would create together can provide you with an opportunity to gain a new perspective, establish your own personal goals, and over time find your own solutions and develop new ways of coping that are functional and sustainable.

It also allows you the space and time to develop a deeper level of self-awareness. This can enable you to gain insight and understanding of who you are, how you relate to the world, and how this can influence the way you function in life. The humanistic approach to counselling is client led, this gives you control of your sessional content, goal setting, and developmental journey, this process enables you to regain control of your life outside of the counselling room.

Contact me to book an initial session, at which we will explore your reasons for seeking counselling, discuss how we will work together and explore any questions you may have. Then, if you are comfortable working with me, and feel I am the right counsellor for you, we can establish a working contract and arrange further sessions.

I offer both short term solution and goal focussed therapy as well as long term open ended counselling. The appropriateness of each for your situation can form part of the discussion at our initial session, any decision you make can be reviewed regularly throughout our work together.