Renou Kiefer

Miss Renou Kiefer MBACP MSET

Renou Kiefer is a counsellor, counselling educator, and developing researcher whose work explores the relationship between clinical practice, counsellor education, and professional development within psychotherapy training. Her professional interests are grounded in the belief that effective counselling practice is shaped not only by clinical skills, but also by the quality of education, reflective development, and support experienced by counsellors throughout training and into professional practice.

Renou currently works across counselling practice, counselling education, and higher education. She is a counsellor at a university, providing One-at-a-Time and short-term counselling to university students, and maintains a private counselling practice in Guildford (www.guildfordtherapist.co.uk)

Alongside her clinical work, she teaches counselling within further education, supporting trainee counsellors as they develop therapeutic skills, ethical understanding, reflective capacity, and the foundations of professional identity required for practice.

Renou’s developing research interests include counsellor education, professional identity formation, reflective practice, experiential learning, practitioner development, and the relationship between counsellor training and clinical competence. She is particularly interested in how counsellors develop throughout training and into professional practice, and how educational approaches can support the development of thoughtful, ethical, and resilient practitioners. She also has a specific interest in mental health and wellbeing within the armed forces community, informed by her previous professional experience working alongside serving personnel and military families.

Prior to retraining as a counsellor, Renou developed nineteen years of professional experience across education, higher education, entrepreneurship, social enterprise, charities, communications, and organisational leadership. Her career has included teaching within further education, supporting enterprise education at the University of Surrey, coaching social entrepreneurs, managing operations for a venture-backed social impact organisation, leading communications projects, fundraising and donor development within the charitable sector, and running her own communications consultancy.

This broad professional background continues to inform Renou’s approach to counselling, teaching, and professional development. Her experience across different sectors has shaped her interest in how people learn, develop expertise, navigate organisational systems, and sustain wellbeing within demanding professional environments.

A particularly formative stage of Renou’s career was her work with the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards as Social Media and Digital Content Manager. Working alongside serving personnel and military families during a period of operational deployment provided valuable insight into the unique demands of military life, including the impact of service on individuals, relationships, and family systems. This experience continues to shape her commitment to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of serving personnel, veterans, reservists, and military families.

Renou holds a Diploma of Higher Education in Counselling and is a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). She also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Post Compulsory Education (PGCE) and is undertaking postgraduate study in teaching and learning. Through her combined roles as counsellor, educator, and developing researcher, Renou aims to contribute to the ongoing development of counselling practice and the education of future counsellors.

Born and raised in London, Renou now lives in Guildford with her tweenage son. She enjoys bookshops, live music, hidden coffee spots, and hiking in the Surrey Hills.