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Updated on 27th February 2023
Counselling via web-camera and Skype/Zoom, in the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, etc.
A unique psycho-educational process, with Dr Jim Byrne, Doctor of Counselling, and primary creator of Emotive-Cognitive Embodied Narrative Therapy…
Based in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, UK
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Welcome to my online counselling service
I’m Dr Jim Byrne, and I’ve been counselling individuals over the internet for more than twenty years. I have a doctoral degree in counselling, a masters degree in education, and a diploma in counselling psychology and psychotherapy.
Over the past 23+ years, I’ve helped more than 1,200 individuals with problems of depression, anxiety, anger, self-confidence, stress, couple conflict, relationship difficulties; attachment problems; and personality adjustments.
If you would like to consult me, to get help resolving one or more of your own problems, then my Online counselling service would work for you. I meet my clients over Skype, or Zoom, or in my Psychology Today Online office.
Most of the people who consult me at the moment tend to have complex, multi-element problems which cannot be quickly or easily understood, explained or solved. What is required is a detailed analysis of the situation – based on data collected via two or more questionnaires (and possibly up to six!), and a face to face interview – followed by a good deal of reflection and solution-generation by me; which allows me to identify the knowledge- and skill-learning needs of the client. And that informs me about which written resources to send to the client after our Online/Skype conversation. Then, about one month later, we meet again, for a second meeting, and this is also followed by six or seven follow-up psycho-educational documents. (This is quite different from the usual structure of simple talk therapy. [But if you want Pure Talk Therapy, please click this link.***).
Here is the full description of that service…
My main counselling psychology assessment and education service consists of…
My Enhanced Main Counselling and Psychotherapy Service – which includes:
This Enhanced, Main Service was updated on 5th August 2022. The main changes are a result of feedback from current clients, who wanted a reduction in the intensity of the “homework” component of this service. Here is the revised structure:
1 – Formal assessment questionnaires – (Function: To collect relevant data about some potential sources of your current problem[s]. Normally between four and seven questionnaires will be sent by me to you, usually as email attachments; and I may ask some supplementary questions once I’ve seen your answers. The subject of each questionnaire is determined by the problem[s] you wish to address in our work together).
2 – A counselling meeting of up to sixty minutes (which is mainly more assessment, at our first meeting. [If you opt for a second meeting, then we get to do more therapy than assessment during the second meeting]);
3 – An analytical report. (This includes: what happened at our meeting; my observations, reflections and conclusions; plus my assessment of your questionnaire answers; plus a customized list of written materials which I will send, at fortnightly intervals, over a twelve or fourteen week period). I will send my analytical report to you within seven to ten days of our meeting. (When my analysis is particularly extensive [in terms of numbers of pages], which is not uncommon, I sometimes send it in two or three smaller chunks, over a period of several weeks!)
4 – My report (or the first instalment of my report) is followed by five or six informational documents (called psycho-educational [or bibliotherapy] handouts), which will teach you the knowledge and skills you need in order to begin to resolve the problem or problems we discussed in our meeting, [plus problems or developmental needs identified by the assessment questionnaires]. These documents will be sent to you at intervals of two weeks, over a twelve or fourteen week period).
Those four elements, above, are collectively called a “single package” of my Enhanced Main Service; and I normally recommend that you sign up for a “double package”, which involves repeating the above processes again – (at the end of the twelve or fourteen week period of the first package) – but with more time for therapy during our second meeting.
You can repeat this process as often as you need to. I estimate that close to 50% of people will only need a single package to resolve their most pressing problems. Some will require a double package. And some will need more than one double package, depending on the complexity and difficulty of their problems.
After the first one or two packages of my Main Service, you might want to switch to my (Almost) Pure Talk Therapy service, to keep your costs down; or because you have had enough documentary follow-up, and mainly want to talk about your thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and/or relationships.
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Fees for my Enhanced Main Service
With effect from 1st February 2023, the following fees will apply:
– A single package will cost just £600.00 GBP; and:
– A double package will cost just £1,000.00 GBP – (if it is booked as a double package, and paid in advance; resulting in a saving of £200.00p GBP. (And a double package can be shared by a married or cohabiting couple who will get one meeting each, with individual reports and six follow-up documents each).
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Postscript on 5th December 2022 – Payment by instalments
Updated on 1st February 2023
In view of the current economic climate, I am willing to split a single package into three elements, and to allow clients to pay for one element at a time, which amounts to a system of Payment by Instalments, as follows:
A single package, as defined above, can be broken down into the following three elements, and paid for over a three month period:
Element 1: Sending of questionnaires; receiving completed questionnaires; setting up the face-to-face (or Skype) counselling meeting; conducting the counselling meeting. Fee: £225.00 GBP, to be paid at least three days before I send the questionnaires.
Element 2: One month after our meeting, the second payment (of £225.00 GBP) is due. When that payment arrives: I spend several days crunching the data from the questionnaires, and summarizing what I learned from our meeting. I send that report. And two weeks later I will send Follow-up Document 1. And two weeks after that I will send Follow-up Document 2.
Element 3: Two months after our meeting, the third payment of £225.00 GBP is due. When that payment arrives: I authorize the release of the outstanding four documents – (Documents, 3, 4, 5 and 6) – which will be sent at fortnightly intervals, over a period of approximately two months. (The intervals can be increased to reduce the pressure of reading/studying on you).
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Recent Client Testimonial
♣ “Hi Jim, I’m very grateful for your latest report, which is highly detailed and analytical, as always. The content about the (personal details about my relationship) is fascinating. I think your analysis is brilliant, and it sums up so much about my life that I could never have put into words. … Thanks again…”
M.H., Wigan, Lancs. (Three “single packages” of my main service, via the telephone; followed by detailed reports).
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If you wish to sign up for this service, please email drjwbyrne@gmail.com
Or telephone Jim on 01422 843 629 (from inside the UK)
Or 44 1422 843 629 (from outside the UK).
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Service 2. My (Almost) Pure Talk Therapy Service
This service was specifically designed for individuals who do not learn well from written materials, or doing journal writing activities. This is how it works:
1 – First, I ask you to complete a maximum of two questionnaires;
2 – Then we meet for a sixty minute counselling session, face-to-face in Hebden Bridge; or via Skype or the telephone system.
3 – I sometimes send a very brief report after our meeting (if I feel compelled to do so, for the sake of the client’s needs); and I sometimes send a document or two with relevant information (but by no means always!) When I do send such documents, they normally refer back to the results of the assessment questionnaires, and include insights into the client’s personality and lifestyle self-management.
- End of the (almost) pure talk therapy process.
Some of my talk therapy clients have attended for one or two sessions; but some have been consulting me for more than five years!
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Fees for my Almost Pure Talk Therapy service
With effect from 1st February 2023, the fee for a single session of this service will be just £300.00 GBP.
If you pay in advance for two sessions the combined cost will be just £500.00 GBP – which is a saving of £100.00 GBP.
Once you’ve completed your first two single sessions – or one double session – of Almost Pure Talk Therapy, the session fee will reduce to £200.00. (And at this point, if you book two sessions in advance, the total fee for those two sessions will fall to £300.00 GBP which is an additional saving of £100.00)
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Postscript: I do not offer Payment by Instalments for (Almost) Pure Talk Therapy.
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For an illustration of the kinds of reports I’ve produced in the past, please see Sample Report Structures.***
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Here’s a recent client testimonial about Online/Skype counselling:
♣ “Dear Jim, I just had to write to thank you for your help with my stress problem, about my conflict at work problem. My boss held a meeting of the team yesterday, and I was able to explain my role in recent difficulties, because I had taken your advice and wrote it all out in a journal, and analysed it until I understood the entire dynamic. I was also well-exercised, and well-nourished, and I had drunk three glasses of water by the time the meeting began. I also used the assertive communication phrases you taught me! It went so well, I could not believe how different it felt. And you have probably saved my career in the process! Thanks for a really surprising and delighting outcome!”
K.I.M., Toronto, Canada. (Two sessions of Skype counselling for problems of conflict at work).
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During our Online/Skype conversation – no matter which of the services you choose – we will talk about your situation, and how you might make progress in resolving whatever is troubling you.
Please phone me or email me to discuss setting up an appointment. I will pencil you into my diary.
Then I will send you an invoice, or you can pay your fee directly into my bank account. And when your fee arrives, I will ink in your appointment.
Telephone: 01422 843 629 (from inside the UK)
Telephone: 44 1422 843 629 (from outside the UK)
Email address: Doctor Jim Byrne.***
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According to the International Society for Mental Health Online, the advantages of ‘online counselling’ include:
“1. You may feel freer to be yourself online.
“2. You may feel more comfortable receiving coaching, counselling or therapy in the privacy of your home.
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“8. You can contact your coach/counsellor by telephone, thus maximising ease of communication, but you do not have to present yourself in their office, or “look them in the eye”, which can be an advantage with problems that invoke a sense of embarrassment.
“9. There are more coaches/therapists to choose from online. And it is also possible to see them “face-to-face” by using video conferencing if you have a web camera.
“10. You can email your coach/therapist any time of day, and especially when you feel the need for help.
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♣ “Thanks Jim. I’m feeling better – much happier – because … I’ve made some of the dietary changes you recommended, I’m doing some physical exercise, and also I am working on the psychological exercises you recommended…”.
G.S., Prague, Czech Republic. (Two sessions of Skype counselling and one of email counselling, for depression and discouragement).
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“12. While you can see your coach/counsellor over a webcam, you do not need to be concerned that you will bump into them on the streets of your hometown tomorrow! So there is greater anonymity.”
(For a list of some of the disadvantages of this form of counselling delivery, see the ISMHO guidelines, here: ISMHO guidelines).
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Good enough counsellors provide a healing relationship for their counselling clients: How can counselling relationships help the client to grow and have better relationships in the real world? “In the world according to Bowlby, our lives, from the cradle to the grave, revolve around intimate attachments. Although our stance toward such attachments is shaped most influentially by our first relationships, we are also malleable. If our early involvements have been problematic, then subsequent relationships can offer second chances, perhaps affording us the potential to love, feel, and reflect with the freedom that flows from secure attachment. (Counselling and) psychotherapy, at its best, provides just such a healing relationship”.
Dr David Wallin, Attachment in Psychotherapy, 2007, page 1 (3)
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For more information, or to pencil in an appointment, contact me today:
Dr Jim Byrne
Lifestyle Counsellor/Coach/Therapist
Email: Dr Jim Byrne
01422 843 629 (from inside the UK); or
44 1422 843 629 (from outside the UK).
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My Skype name is: jimbyrne232
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♣ “Dear Jim, You are the best therapist I know. I find your thinking and your models to be better than anyone else’s. And I have great faith in your ability to help me to work through whatever problems come up in my life. You have guided me out of some very dark times – sometimes as if you just waved a magic wand – and sometimes leading me, step by step, by the hand – and I have told all my friends over the years how much you helped me to overcome my depression and jealous rages. You are one of the most compassionate and empathic people I know. And one of the bravest. You never allow your ego to get in the way. Over the past ten years, I have always felt you in the background of my life, on a daily basis, as a solid pillar of support – even when we went for months or years without any contact”.
L.C., Hong Kong (36 sessions of mixed contact, comprising telephone counselling, email counselling and Skype counselling, over a period of twelve years).
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Best wishes,
Jim Byrne, Doctor of Counselling, ABC Counselling and Psychotherapy Services
Telephone: 44 1422 843 629 (from outside the UK); or 01422 843 629 (inside the UK).
Email: Dr Jim Byrne
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ABC Counselling and Psychotherapy, Hebden Bridge 