Shirley Baxter

I am a highly experienced Independent Counsellor with over 8000 hours of supervised client work completed. I have been seeing clients since 2005 (19 years) and running my own Private Practice since 2009 (15 years). In addition to this I am also a Co-founder and Partner of Portsmouth Therapy Partnership.  I am a Registered Member of the BACP and have been Accredited since 2009.

Since March 2020 I have been working Online via Zoom & Teams video link or via Telephone with Adult Individuals and Couples.  Whilst this has bought its own challenges I have found it to be an enriching experience for both myself and my clients and have decided to add this as an additional service to my in person face to face work.  I have so far undertaken over 1000 supervised online client hours.

Since qualifying as a Counsellor I have also been a Telephone Helpline Counsellor for Major EAP organisation, roles included Assessing Clients, Signposting Clients, Supportive Listening (2008 - 2016).

Prior to becoming a Counsellor I spent 18 years as a Project Manager (Manufacturing) in the electronics sector. I gained extensive knowledge of the difficulties encountered within large, complex multi-disciplined teams operating to tight timescales and budgets. I can therefore appreciate the difficulties and the stress that you may experience when faced with work related issues.

My experiences stem from my heritage which is British-Italian and I know how my own sense of identity has been impacted as I navigated these different cultures. I therefore have an understanding of some of the complex issues involving race and cultural differences that you may be experiencing and bringing into the counselling room.

I am fluent in the Italian language, however I am not able to offer Counselling in Italian.