About me
My name is David Shaw, I am a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy BACP Accredited Therapist. I work primarily in the Paisley & Renfrewshire area providing online and face-to-face therapy.
I take a compassion focused approach to support you by helping you develop a set of strategies to overcome anxiety, stress, grief, and depression.
Each individual has their own personal signature strengths and I'll help you identify your own and explore the ways that you can use your strenghts to help you manage life's challenges.
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In addition to counselling services I also provide Clinical supervision to therapists. If you are looking for a Supervisor please contact me to discuss
My therapy & counselling specialties
Each of us have unique perspectives on our life experience, personal qualities and difficulties. I collaborate with you to develop a therapeutic relationship working in partnership to address the issues you are finding hard to deal with on your own.
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Together we can learn to adapt by taking a creative approach towards resolving your current difficulties.
​We work holistically to help you develop deeper self-awareness and build the skills to navigate through challenging situations.
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Counselling helps in changing and adapting giving you the confidence to communicate and have your needs met by others. Self assertiveness and self esteem are important aspects in understanding how we see our ourselves and how we communicate with others.
In counselling you can identify and develop effective interpersonal skills and gain a deeper understanding of your needs values and beliefs. ​
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Compassion Focused Therapy
We can define compassion as “A sensitivity to suffering in self and others with a commitment to try and alleviate and prevent it”
This therapeutic approach has at core the awareness of a need to nurture a caring kind and compassionate way to alleviate suffering in ourselves. Compassionate mind training helps you to treat yourself with kindness and change self-critical thinking, enabling you to cultivate empathy towards yourself.
Self-criticism is one of the barriers to living a contented, creative life connected to others through deeper self-awareness and acceptance.
I will support you to develop mindfulness practices based on this approach which can help you develop the qualities to improve your emotional wellbeing, self-beliefs, and help strengthen connections with others in your life.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Cognitive behaviour Therapy (CBT) uses a wide range of tools to help you develop an understanding of how to manage difficult thoughts, emotions and challenging situations.
Change involves looking at situations differently and in shifting our perspective we are able to then modify our behaviour accordingly. We can learn to manage our emotions by understanding how our emotions change according to the situation and how confident we feel about our ability to cope.
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We will use a wide range of creative exercises along with videos, information packages, and useful websites which will help you build a toolbox of useful skills and self-awareness.
Walk and Talk
A wealth of research has demonstrated the benefits of outdoor activities as part of an overall approach to improved mental and emotional health. We also know that psychical exercise helps in moderating our emotions and improving mood.
I offer 1 hour or 90 Minute walking sessions in the local Renfrewshire area where we can share the experience of walking in the countryside and discuss issues that are important to you.
While this is not formal counselling, it does provide a way to enjoy being around nature and establish different ways to enhance your wellbeing. From my experience people find the open spaces beneficial in opening up and thinking of solutions to problems in a creative way.
Walks will be guided and mapped out to ensure safety and take account of mobility, health and weather conditions.