Humanistic Psychotherapist and Counsellor in Woking, Surrey

Welcome to my Website

I'm Howard Widdicombe. Thank you for visiting my web site.

I am an experienced Behavioural Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Counsellor offering psychotherapy & counselling and services to individuals, couples, families and groups.

Making the most of ourselves is a very basic motivational instinct that we all recognise within us. Each person has within themselves the potential to take charge of and influence their lives. Clients have often said that as a result of working with me they have been able to develop the awareness, attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours necessary to lead rewarding, fulfilling and satisfying lives through:-

• Getting to know and understand themselves better
• Utilising coping strategies to deal with personal difficulties e.g. anger, anxiety, bereavement, phobias, panic, self esteem, stress and trauma
• Building, sustaining and revitalising relationships with others
• Valuing difference in others
• Improving parenting and family relationship capabilities
• Developing their professional careers
• Adjusting to the life changes needed to support family members with developmental delay and learning difficulties

I have 35 years experience of working professionally with people in a variety of roles including, Human Resources (Personnel) Manger, Company Training and Development Manager, Organisation Development and Change Management Consultant, Business Psychologist, Counsellor & Psychotherapist, Family Befriender and Classroom Assistant at a school for autistic children.

My training has focused on:

1. Jungian behavioural psychology
2. Formative, gestalt, humanistic and integrative psychotherapy
3. Person centred counselling

However, in the past decade psychotherapists have been making extraordinary discoveries about the biological basis of psychological structures and emotional patterns. In response, a new and highly creative approach has emerged in this field - to connect the insights of neuroscience and psychotherapy and to try to reconcile psychotherapeutic and neuropsychological understandings of the mind.

This pioneering research is changing the way we practice psychotherapy and guiding us in the direction of more effective work. I now use Formative Psychology and Somatic Psychotherapy as the basis of the way I work professionally. Formative psychology is based on an evolutionary perspective which proposes that, as humans, we are an ongoing process continually forming a somatic self in a personal way. We learn our style of being in the world, how we give and receive as we become familiar with our somatic, emotional responses. Stanley Keleman is the acknowledged expert in this area and I have included some information about his approach on my web site. (Pleae click here if you would like some more information on Formative Psychology or use the My Approach tab from this Home Page).

I am primarily interested in supporting clients to develop a more meaningful personal relationship with themselves (intrapersonal) and others (interpersonal). Our ability to lead a satisfying life primarily depends on developing our understanding of our experience of (a) ourselves and how we function as individuals in our own right and (b) others and the world in which we live. Perception and judgement - the two cognitive processes we use to give meaning to our existence are formed by these two underlying relationships. Our relationship to ourselves (our inner life) is the foundation stone on which we are able to build a healthy and satisfying relationship with our outer world. Formative Psychology is a powerful methodology and experiential approach for enabling us to develop our connections to both our intrapersonal and interpersonal selves.

I have extensive experience of working with:

I also provide Clinical Supervision for Counsellors and Psychotherapists and Coaching and Mentoring for all those with ongoing responsibility for people as part of their work.

In addition to my psychotherapy practice I continue to design and run numerous workshops and seminars through my business consultancy practice The People Partnership. This is for people who work in private, public and not for profit organisations. I also provide Coaching and Mentoring for individuals.

You will notice that I sometimes refer to services or events from other counsellors or psychotherapists. There are also links to other web sites that you might find useful.

My practice is based in Woking, Surrey. I also see clients from an area that includes:-

I hope that you enjoy my web site and find it interesting and useful .If you have not already discovered the subsections under the “About me” and “The way I work” headings, you may want to visit the following links below for more information.

• Personal History
• Professional Background
• Training and qualifications
• My Practice
• Professional Support
• Business Psychology

This site is regularly updated and I welcome any comments you may have. If you:-

• like what you see
• find my site interesting
• believe you would like to work with me

Please contact me for details.