Rachel Blake, Counsellor

Rachel Blake, MSc (Counselling), MBACP (Accredited Voluntary Register) has been working at PF Counselling Service in Edinburgh as a counsellor and assessment counsellor for 13 years, and with Health in Mind, Edinburgh for 9 years where she provides telephone counselling and weekly face to face sessions to adult survivors of trauma including childhood sexual abuse and neglect. Rachel has also provided telephone support for those considering attending the National Confidential Forum. The NCF is about understanding and acknowledging individual’s experiences as a child in institutional care in Scotland, whatever they were. It is completely up to individuals whether they want to contact the support service, and offers an impartial space where the focus is for people to be able to talk confidentially, about what coming to the Forum could mean for them. She is also experienced and interested in gender identity and sexuality, and welcomes working with gender sexuality relationship diverse issues and clients.

Alongside this, Rachel has volunteered as an Associate Counsellor at Hope Park Counselling Centre for 14 months, where this generic agency offers counselling to individuals and couples over the age of 17 in Edinburgh. She originally trained in the dialogue between the Psychodynamic Perspective and Person Centred approach at The University of Edinburgh, and describes her way of working therapeutically as integrative. In 2012, Rachel successfully completed a Specialist Certificate in the Therapeutic use of Technology with the Online Therapy Institute, and provided short term email counselling for 10 months to a diverse client group within a generic agency setting in Dundee. She also has a private counselling practice in Craiglockhart, Edinburgh and is happy to work with almost any issue either face to face or online. Rachel has particular interest, expertise and specialist diploma training (through Pink Therapy) in working with LGBT+ experiences and bereavement and loss out of her counselling work with CRUSE Bereavement Care Scotland in Edinburgh, where she undertook their Specialist Certificate in Bereavement. Rachel is also very experienced in working with clients living with terminal and degenerative illness, disability, depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties, abuse, self harm and with adult survivors of boarding school.