Welcome to solaris counselling
Solution based therapy
Lifestyle Enhancement Counsellor & Relaxation Coach offering personalised solution focused therapeutics.
Tammie Martin
Fullly Qualified Counsellor
At times life can be difficult to navigate, with challenging events arriving unexpectantly. The road ahead can become unclear, and anyone can struggle making positive choices to improve their unique situations for the better. As a Counsellor, I am trained to sensitively listen without judgement whilst guarding your privacy. Together we can explore your individual concerns in a safe and comfortable setting. Whatever the problem, I will provide an empathetic and confidential space for you to reflect and consider what is happening to you. Together we can discuss realistic options appropriate to your lifestyle. With my experience, we can consider and decide on the most suitable counselling tools to suit your needs. I will encourage you to develop your strengths whilst providing you with the courage to embrace any areas of difficulty with dignity and humility. Motivating you to have an active involvement in your own journey, alongside working towards getting you to where you want to be.
I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and adhere to a Code of Conduct. Providing you with a respectful therapeutic environment in which to improve any concerns or problems. As a Pluralistic Counsellor, I can provide Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT), Humanistic and Psychodynamic approaches amongst other techniques such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Mindfulness. One of my aims is to provide a fair counselling service to suit each individual’s requirements, encouraging inclusion for everyone. I also hold a Children’s and Young Person’s qualification. This enables me to work alongside young people from the age of sixteen and adults from all walks of life.
If particular life events lead you to feeling overloaded, I am able to personalise sessions to provide you with realistic relaxation methods to suit your lifestyle. For example, do you find exam times stressful or are you preparing for a wedding? These are just a few situations where with a little help, anyone can reach their ultimate potential. More details are held in the frequently asked questions section. Live the life you have always aimed for!
My mission is to provide counselling techniques that can be practiced by everybody and utilised in counselling and beyond.
Areas of Counselling that I deal with.
Addictions
Anxiety
Bereavement
Bullying
Carer Support
Depression
Divorce
Long Term Illnesses
Low Confidence
Low Self Esteem
Panic Attacks
Personal Stress
Redundancy
Relationship Breakdowns
Self Harm
Suicidal Thoughts
Trauma
Work Related Stress
All my sessions can be held face to face in a comfortable setting or online via Zoom.
I also offer discounted rates were applicable and work with you and your company via employee assistance programs (EAP).
Stress
Whilst travelling into work, I often mentally prepare for the day ahead. At times, my thoughts consider many topics, some relevant and like many other people some random humorous pictures pop up in my head, as I process what is important to remember for the day ahead. Have I left anything at home? Have my kids got everything they need? Did I check-in with my partner about any changes to this week’s schedule? We all have at one time, or another felt this sense of rush to go through our personal check lists before starting our main activities for the day.
Pangry
Pangry is a term used to suggest pandemic anger. As Covid-19 becomes part of our everyday lives, it is something that we still naturally try to guard against. We are looking to find ways to stop this respiratory infection in its tracks, in any way we know how. We have all suffered and we are aiming to find the right way forward in which to reduce its harm, whilst dealing with the difficulties it has provided each and every one of us.
Social Media
At the start of the day, as a parent juggling work and home life, my routine is very similar to many people. Before I start work, urgent emails, messages, and social media advertising are considered and completed.
Journalling
Journaling has multiple healing properties, by writing down what has happened in a past hurtful experience, we can finally let go and make peace with what occurred. In turn, this can boost our mood as we reduce personal stress. We can find clarity about difficult situations. For some, this is a way to deal with the loss of a loved one, or any self-doubt about a relationship
Cost of living
Whilst heading back home from work, my thoughts moved onto the subject of what we could have for tea that evening. From there I quickly moved onto thinking about the topic of current food prices. I considered how things had quickly risen to approximately three times their price in a matter of months. It was not only the cost of food, but fuels, energy bills and much more.
Crying
From time to time, I enjoy a classic movie that moves me to the point of providing appreciative tears. It appears I am not the only one. Although it is one of the least talked about subjects in mental health, but why? Emotional crying is one of three types of tears our eyes produce. The second reason for producing tears is to help our eyes maintain moisture, with the third cause for crying being a natural response to clearing any irritants from our eyes. The last two options do not seem to provide any stigma, but crying for the purposes of releasing stress from the body through our emotions seems to bring feelings of concern from others.
Relaxation
Personalised relaxation sessions based on mindfulness, what is this and how do these practices work?
Firstly, mindfulness techniques encourage your thought processes to be in the current moment. It is suggested that if a person wants to increase their concentration and brain sharpness, these particular exercises can help your cognitions to do so. If you can imagine a workout for your mind, these practices are appropriate to try.
If the techniques are practised regularly at home, they can be utilised to reduce the damage of everyday life difficulties by allowing your mind to take time out and consider your next steps with confidence. The techniques also aid the recovery of stress by providing your brain with the strength to react and cope more efficiently.
As mindfulness has been around for many years there are multiple exercises to consider and choose from. My aim is to get to know what each individual is interested in, whilst providing the most relevant options suitable for your lifestyle. The sessions last approximately 30 minutes each and most people come along and take part in two to three sessions. That way we can tweak the exercises precisely, giving you the best result to suit your requirements.
By trying the techniques at home after the initial appointment and returning to collaboratively discuss them. This provides me with some accurate information in which to pinpoint your unique mindfulness routine. This in turn can enhance your self-awareness whilst giving you the choice to discuss what has come forward for you in a safe and non-judgemental setting.
With here and now practices, one can also learn to be more self-compassionate with one’s individual feelings, regardless of them being positive or negative. This is after all a natural process for every human. Through long term practice, mindfulness can encourage compassion with others to whom we previously may not have fully understood. Which can in time benefit your interpersonal skills, alongside aiding your relationships.
To sum things up, if you wish to try a brain workout which boosts your mental skills, aids stress reduction, and improves your relations. This may be suitable to you. If you are studying, going through tough times or just wanting to encourage good health, why not have a go and see where it takes you?
Client Feedback
”Solaris Counselling was a good choice for me, I was finding the waiting times for other counselling services too long. I started counselling when I needed it. I was looking for counselling at a reasonable price and I wanted a personalised service that suited my concerns. My counsellor made me feel I was heard. I felt relaxed and I was able to talk through my worries. This helped me to see things more clearly, I was given techniques that worked and suited my lifestyle. I still use them to this day.”
MC
“The services provided by Solaris Counselling have been invaluable. Through our sessions I have made significant progress in many areas of my life whilst improving my pro-social techniques when managing difficult situations. I continue to use the tools Tammie has provided me. I have found them to be helpful when solving multiple concerns.”
SK
“Thanks Solaris counselling, your sessions are on point! My therapy goals were identified, clarified, and worked on. I achieved what I wanted to, in doing so I also learned some new ways to deal with tricky problems. I will continue to use them now that my counselling sessions have come to an end.”
AB
”Tammie made me feel extremely safe, I felt I was able to say or discuss all of my concerns. I felt listened to, at times she would ask me thought provoking questions that helped me to make sense of things. I was never judged or made to feel uncomfortable. I found this to be very useful. What was very important to me was she provided me with workable tools to use in my life in counselling and afterwards. This gave me the confidence to look at hard times with more self-confidence.”
KB
“I would often come into your counselling sessions feeling unsettled due to what was going on for me in my life. This soon disappeared, Tammie’s relaxation techniques allowed me to focus on what was happening when it was happening. In turn, this helped me to sort out some of the confusion I was going through. You are a small bright torch beaming some positivity. I thank you for what you have shown me! I am now using what I have learnt regularly, and I am getting results. I am able to cope better, and I feel more confident in my close relationships.”