ABOUT ME

I love my work as a counsellor, psychotherapist, wild therapist and supervisor. I love connecting with people and place, and I love being outdoors - whatever the weather - working in open spaces through outdoor therapy and wild therapy across the Calder Valley, including Hebden Bridge, Halifax, Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden. I value wisdom and depth.

I really believe in the power of deep listening, empathy and presence to facilitate change in psychotherapy and that is when Counselling by Cath Cheshire-Neal was born.

Especially in the current times, I think the impact of kindness and compassion should not be undervalued.

Before working as a counsellor, I was a teacher and a special needs assistant. I trained as a horticultural therapist, working on an allotment project with refugees and asylum seekers. Here I witnessed the dual therapeutic benefits of activity outside and the relational connection of being alongside - the early roots of the outdoor therapy work I now offer - which led me to my counselling training.

Later, through my wild therapy training, I found my way back to the interconnectedness between the natural world and people, a thread that now runs deeply through my psychotherapy practice in both room-based and open-air settings.

I have always wanted to work with people, believing in what can be possible with support, kindness and understanding. We are not all born into equal access to these basic needs, so I hope I can offer a little towards levelling this.

During my 15 years working as a counsellor, I have worked in organisations with refugees and asylum seekers, in SureStart Centres, in a deprived area of Halifax, and have steadily grown my private practice. I am interested in continuing to interweave my therapeutic work with the politics of power and privilege, mindfulness and remembering our connection with the natural world.

Through difficult times in my own life, walking and being outdoors has saved my soul. I still struggle to put into words what it was: the movement, the physical energy, the air, the distraction, the solidity and solidarity of the hills and the rock, the sweetness of birdsong - a reminder of what I could control and what I couldn’t. And at the same time, the reliable support of the people around me was vital; knowing I wasn’t alone.

So I think this combination - of people, nature and relational support - sits deep in my being, an awareness of being connected to what is bigger than us. Much of this deep connection has been forgotten or severed in modern life. And this connection to ourselves, to each other and to the land around us is integral to our wellbeing.

I bring to my work my warmth, depth, steadiness, wisdom and delight. Like the seasons, the weather and the land, we are always changing, learning and growing. I honour this aliveness, flow and gloriousness in our therapeutic work together, whether indoors, online, or out in the open spaces of the Calder Valley through outdoor therapy and wild therapy.