Sustenance Counselling
Welcome to Sustenance Counselling
A confidential space to explore the thoughts, feelings and challenges in your life.
ABOUT ME AND MY PRACTICE
Hi, I’m Sam Gardner and Sustenance Counselling is my person-centred practice. I believe that the language we use matters and sustenance is a word that lands well in my body. It helps me connect with what nourishes me, where I draw strength, and how my needs are implicitly informed by my desires.
I bring what sustains me to my therapeutic relationships with clients, where I support you to understand yourself and your life, how it is to be you and to live in the world. I trust in your capacity to work towards constructive change or a greater sense of wellbeing, while deeply acknowledging that this may currently feel out of reach, overwhelming, or a source of conflict and tension.
I have absorbed the ideas and integrity of the person-centred approach to therapy, and life, into my bones. In raising my son and working in community education, I grew my sense of self in spaces where I wasn’t going to be told what to do. This self-directed way of being can be unsettling at first and it is one of the touchstones of healing and growth. When we are able to source our inner navigational system, at first in fleeting moments and then as something more substantial, how we live in the world begins to change.
Please read more about how counselling can help in the sections below. I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and I abide by their code of ethics. I am also a member of the Person-Centred Association (tPCA). As of January 2025, I will be taking an advanced course in Couples and Relationship Therapy and will provide more details here soon!
HOW COUNSELLING CAN HELP
Counselling is a regular and private space for you to bring whatever you are struggling with or curious to explore, no matter how long it’s been there or how unclear it may be. All of you is welcome, what might feel too much or what feels not enough, and we will explore at a pace and depth that is right for you.
Counselling is an intuitive and creative process which emerges out of the relationship between us as we get to know one another and your world as you experience it. Together, we will create a way of working that meets your relational needs, balancing close contact with space to get to know your own voice, perhaps for the first time.
I invite you to bring attention to thoughts, feelings and sensations that could be helpful to explore further. Sometimes when we pause at a place in our story that we usually overlook or stay with a feeling that we tend to dismiss, there’s an opportunity to see things differently.
A safe therapeutic relationship is felt in the body and can shift the nervous system, allowing it to ease and enter a more connected state. This restorative process can open up new perspectives, experiences and possibilities, in and out with the counselling room.
People come to me for help with a wide range of issues. Here are a few of the more common difficulties that can be supported through counselling and psychotherapy:
Feelings of stress and anxiety
Relationship problems
Grief and loss
Depression and low mood
Issues relating to sexuality
Problems with confidence or low self-esteem
Abuse and trauma
Problems with family life
Issues relating to identity
Difficulties at work or university
Life transitions and change
Loneliness and connection
YOUR version of life
I welcome all parts or aspects of you into our work together, open to the ways each part may express itself. I am committed to your wholeness and the unique patterns and pieces of your life, as you experience these now and over the course of time.
POSSIBILITY
The person-centred approach does not pathologise your suffering and trusts that what you’re experiencing is inherently meaningful and valid. Accepting and honouring this in an environment of sufficient safety is how the self begins to unfold and emerge into possibility.
NEW STORIES
When you no longer have to protect yourself so fiercely, you can reach beyond the familiar stories you hold about yourself and your life. You may begin to see those stories more clearly and yourself more distinctly. Then a new and more accurate story can start to form.
CONTACT ME
Please contact me if you have questions at all about counselling or would like to arrange an exploratory session.
All enquires are usually answered within 24 hours, and all contact is strictly confidential.
MY LOCATION
I work in person in Edinburgh (Southside, Newington, The Meadows & Marchmont, Bruntsfield, Morningside, Leith and beyond) as well as online across the UK.
FEES & AVAILABILITY
My counselling fee is £55 - £70 per session. I ask clients to pay what they can afford within this range. I require 48 hours notice to cancel a session after which time the full fee is due.
Sessions are open-ended and usually happen weekly at a regular time. Please be in touch if a different arrangement might work for you and we can discuss this.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Counselling and psychotherapy are often used to talk about the same process. Sometimes counselling is considered shorter and more situational, meaning that it focuses on an immediate concern or issue in your day to day life. Whereas psychotherapy may be considered a longer and deeper process.
I don't distinguish between counselling and psychotherapy in the way I work. I work with you and what you want to work on at your pace. This means that the depth and degree of exploration is determined by you, the client.
I work in an open-ended way which means that you come to counselling for as long as you choose to. How many sessions you have may depend on what you want to work on, what comes up for you during our work together and what you are looking for from counselling. This may change and shift as we go and we can talk about this at any point. We can also explore your expectations when we first meet.
When you enquire about counselling, I will let you know my availability and we will usually agree a time to meet that works for us both on an ongoing basis. The first session is an opportunity for you to explore what is bringing you to counselling and to get a sense of how it feels to work with me. It also helps me ensure that I feel confident that we can develop a good therapeutic relationship.
Counselling is a confidential process and I hold our therapeutic relationship with care and respect. Being able to speak freely to someone who is not involved in your life is central to the work we do together.
I will not disclose anything that we talk about unless I am sufficiently concerned that you or someone else may be at risk of harm. In this case, I will try to the best of my ability to raise these concerns with you first. There are also legal exceptions to confidentiality which are detailed in my counselling agreement.
You can talk to a counsellor about many different issues and areas of life. You might seek counselling in response to a loss, a traumatic event or a significant change. You might have general feelings of low mood, stress or anxiety. You might feel sad, stuck or angry and you may have been living with these difficult feelings for a long time. You might want to feel a closer connection to others or get to know yourself better. You may experience life deeply and want to feel understood in this heightened sensitivity.
What you're dealing with might feel too small or too big, but there is always a space for your concerns. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to explore how counselling may help you.
© Sustenance Counselling
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